Operation: X Universe
by CapcomManiacX4
Summary: A year has passed since the end of the Byaku Shin Project thanks to the efforts of Reiji Arisu, Xiaomu, and the heroes from time and space. Now, due to the unbalance of the universe, a new ancient threat has come, and both good and EVIL of all worlds are at stack. STARRING: Bandai Namco, Capcom, Sega, Nintendo, Square Enix, and guest stars from FOUR different titles!
1. Prologue 1

~ Prologue 1 – Arisu Returns to the Distorted City ~

A year has passed since the Shinra agents Reiji Arisu, son of Shougo Arisu, and Xiaomu the Mystic Fox Sage, along with many other heroes from different worlds of time and space stopped Ouma's plan to merge all worlds, as well as defeated mortal enemies of the other worlds. After their celebration, everything returned to originality and everyone went back to their own worlds to continue on with their lives. However this end came with a price, because of the worlds' many actions, the once maintained balance of the universe began to slowly disrupt, which would soon be the start of a new threat. Now, the Shinra Organization has once again sent Reiji & Xiaomu on another mission to investigate another supernatural activity, but one that's completely different from what they've been dealing with in the past. Reiji is now at the crime scene in Shibuya, standing at the center of the large scramble crossing with the "closed city" as quiet as a ghost town.

[ Japan ~Modern Era~ – Shibuya, Tokyo ]

[ BGM: Project X Zone 2 - Facing the Wind ]

" _ **So this is what the recon team left us with, the usual spot, or should I say the gateway to most otherworldly phenomena…"**_ Reiji said as he looked around, only to notice his partner Xiaomu was nowhere to be seen, not to his surprise. _**"Where the hell is she anyways?"**_

" _ **Right here, right here Reiji…."**_ Xiaomu said with a bored tone as she approached Reiji.

" _ **Xiaomu you do realize running off to the nearby music store doesn't exactly make the mission any quicker, right?"**_ Reiji said with slight frustration.

" _ **W-wait, how did you….oh who am I kidding, Reiji who cares, the big bad Ouma Organization is long gone, and lately our missions have been minor, kinda like those never-ending side quests, but without the EXP."**_ Xiaomu answered with her hands behind her back and a smile at the end.

Disregarding the example she added, Reiji said _**"…The recon team said this case was different from anything we usually deal with, this time it involves the civilians rather than worlds."**_

" _ **Right, somethin' about people goin' on a rampage?"**_ Xiaomu asked uncaringly.

" _ **Some of the civilians are apparently undergoing an "inner hatred", but that's only been half of the city so far….mostly Tokyo according to them and the news reports."**_ Reiji said.

" _ **Well ya know what they say "Come to the dark side, we have cookies"…boy people must REALLY be craving cookies today."**_ Xiaomu replied jokingly.

 _ **"….Shut up, Xiaomu."**_ Reiji said with annoyance as he closed his eyes.

[ Destiny Islands ~Part Era~ – Middle of the sea ]

In order to counter the coming return of Master Xehanort, Yen Sid put Sora and Riku through the Mark of Mastery exam in order for them to become full-fledged Keyblade Masters. As part of this trial, the two are sent back to the Destiny Islands before it was swallowed by the darkness and became a Sleeping World. Additionally, they were reverted back to the age they were when the world was destroyed, so they could relearn old and new skills. Avoiding their past selves, they decided to take the raft out to sea before the Heartless arrive.

" _ **Riku, a storms coming."**_ Sora said as he kneeled and looked at the water.

" _ **I know, the waves are getting steep, furl the sail."**_ Riku said as he stood behind him.

" _ **Right."**_ Sora acknowledged.

[ BGM: Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD ReMix – Night of Fate ]

Suddenly, a large shark's fin that was designed in a blue tattoo-like pattern jets out of the water from behind and rips through the raft's sail, breaking it apart before it dives back into the water. Now stranded in the middle of the sea, Sora looks up and sees Riku in the water, holding onto the mast for his life.

" _ **Riku!"**_

" _ **I'm fine…what was that?!"**_

The water starts to churn violently as lightning flashes, and slowly a large gray shark with blue patterns sticking from the side of its eyes, as well as its fin, rises from the deep. Both Sora and Riku both were cautious but also confused, not recognizing the shark at all.

" _ **Is that what attacked us, what is that thing, a Heartless?!"**_ Sora said as he turned to Riku, but then immediately asked, _**"Is this the test?"**_

" _ **Come on, you can work it out later!"**_ Riku said as he managed to stand on top of the floating mast.

The aggressive shark noticed Riku and pursuits the Keyblade wielder at high speed by diving under the water, with Riku unable to see it. However, Riku anticipated its attack by jumping into the air as the shark sends its head out of the water to make an attempt to bite the Keyblade wielder. Riku manages to land on the sharks head and slashed its face a couple times with his Keyblade, Way to the Dawn, before he flipped back onto the raft with Sora, who equipped himself with his Keyblade, the Kingdom Key.

The shark then circles around the raft with Sora and Riku prepared for its next attack, as it once again jumped out of the water aiming towards the two Keyblade wielders with its jaws wide open. Sora immediately jumps towards it and dodges to the side before he strikes the shark back down into the water as he then snickers.

" _ **This is too easy, we're off to a good start eh Riku?"**_ Sora bragged to his friend.

" _ **Stay focused Sora!"**_ Riku said as he looked around waiting for the shark to attack again.

The shark had quickly emerged from the water but this time he crunched its teeth onto the raft, continuously biting it apart.

" _ **Hey, get off our raft!"**_ Sora yelled as he ran towards the shark and starts swinging his Keyblade, strike the shark's large head, but it wasn't enough to get the shark off. However, as Sora balled his fists up, he moved back and said to Riku, _**"Riku, strike after me okay?!"**_ The Keyblade wielder pointed his Keyblade towards the shark and launched a fireball into its mouth as it screeched loudly, removing its mouth from the half eaten raft before Riku leaps over Sora with a cry and slashes the shark with his Blizzard Edge, knocking the creature back as it screeched in pain and eventually fades out eerily. _**"Yeah, we did it Riku...Riku?"**_ Sora looks to his silent friend with slight concern, but it was then that Riku thought to himself.

" _ **(That couldn't have been a Heartless, or part of Yen Sid's test…..something's about that monster feels off…)"**_

[ BGM: Project X Zone 2 – The Gate of Resolved Fates ]

" _ **Ugh!"**_ Riku notices too late as the waves get rougher and toss about the raft, sending the two underwater with no way to escape. As the storm rages above with thunder and lightning, Sora and Riku drop down through the water, but then suddenly a bright keyhole appears and their keyblades flash into their hands. Almost with minds of their own, they aim at the keyhole and shoot a beam of light towards it, engulfing everything around them.

[ Japan ~Modern Era~ – Shibuya, Tokyo ]

Reiji and Xiaomu continued their search for the source of the "inner hatred", but they've had no such luck so far starts to become impatient and complains, much to Reiji's annoyance.

" _ **Quit your complaining Xiaomu, the mission briefing didn't state anything about "quick and easy" last time I checked."**_ Reiji said to his partner.

" _ **My mystic fox senses have not tingled for the past 25 minutes since we've been here, Reiji!"**_ Xiaomu jokingly complained, but then suddenly she sensed something nearby and said, _**"Hold on….oh a strange presence, alright creeps show yourselves!"**_

[ BGM: Namco X Capcom - Enveloping Dark Clouds ]

Suddenly, four dark clouds appeared and surrounded the agents causing them both to move back until they backed up onto each other taking out their weapons. Reiji pulled out his shotgun Hollywood, and his magnum Gold, and held them both while crossing his arms keeping an eye on the clouds. Xiaomu took out one of her two pistols, Silver, and held it up to her chin while she stuck out her pinky finger, smiling in a calm manner.

" _ **There, now you have nothing to complain about**_." Reiji said in response to Xiaomu's complaining.

" _ **Yup, three clouds of darkness, least they're not wicked entities blabbering "We shall devour your light, and use it to return this world to the Void!" he he…right?"**_ Xiaomu asked curiously.

Each of the four clouds then formed individually into a humanlike figure, with red glowing eyes, and proceeded to a fighting stance, ready to attack the agents.

 _ **"Uh oh they're battle ready, Reiji I'm sensing MAJOR hate from these guys!"**_ Xiaomu said.

" _ **No kidding, evidently they're hostile which means we're gonna have to fight, but since you mentioned hate, you think these guys are connected to that "inner hatred"?"**_ Reiji asked his partner.

" _ **Hmmm…might be, it's hard to tell since ya know, they're a new bunch of baddies we know squat about…shall we do the old "Incase We're Surrounded" secret arts?"**_ Xiaomu suggested jokingly.

" _ **I wouldn't call it secret, but alright, let's go!"**_

With that said, Reiji and Xiaomu unload their guns with a storm of bullets on their approaching enemies, switching positions every couple shots. After that, their guns started to smoke out from the barrels, and with enough damage each of the human shaped clouds faded away one by one, but only for four more to reappear around the area, not much to their surprise.

" _ **Of course, there's more of them, because that wasn't awfully easy at all."**_ Xiaomu said sarcastically.

" _ **Save the sarcasm for another time…"**_ Reiji said.

[ Music Stops ]

Suddenly a red light flashed around them.

" _ **What the…Xiaomu did you see that red flash just now?"**_ Reiji asked as he looked towards Xiaomu, completely thrown off by it.

" _ **Yeah, remind me to give Mr. Allen a good talking to about violating the laws of physics….whoa, hold on a second, I'm getting an even stranger vibe all of a sudden…and not the dark creep kind these new freaks are giving!"**_ Xiaomu sensed as she turned and looked towards the large Shibuya 109 building, just to notice it's now called "104" and then the billboard's sign before she said, _**"10…4?!...h-hey Reiji, was that sign there before?"**_

 **THE TIME LIMIT IS 7 DAYS**

" _ **Seven days eh, I don't recall the recon team mentioning anything about mysterious countdowns, Xiaomu what exactly was that "stranger vibe" you caught?"**_ Reiji asked as he observed the area, keeping an eye on the monsters.

" _ **It's like, this IS Shibuya but then it's….NOT Shibuya, it's weird, but eh what else is new when ya walk**_ _**into the infamous "closed city"?"**_ Xiaomu said as she smiled.

Suddenly from above, a hooded man with black wings on his back descends to the ground and immediately spots the Shinra agents as he remains quiet.

" _ **Maybe that hooded stranger has something to do with it…hey, who are you?"**_ Reiji asked the mysterious hooded man.

[ BGM: Project X Zone 2 – Accelerating Chaos ]

The hooded man simply lifted his hands up as four red symbols appeared around him, summoning strange green frogs with blue tattoos for their hind legs as they crawl out of the symbols and hop onto the scramble crossing. The hooded man then put his fists up entering a fighting stance as he said, _**"Engaging unidentified target…."**_

" _ **Well hello to you too young man, I can tell you're not very respected in the welcoming committee!"**_ Xiaomu said slightly angered by the hostility.

" _ **We'll figuring this out later, for now we're gonna have to continue the usual and clean this mess up, you ready?"**_ Reiji said as he loaded his gun.

" _ **I'm pretty sure you mean "unusual", we are Shinra agents after all Reiji."**_ Xiaomu said jokingly.

Two of the human-shaped clouds started shooting ghastly blasts towards Reiji as he dashed towards them, but he jumped over the blasts and started shooting from his magnum with each bullet directly causing one of the humanoids to vanish. The other tried to sneak attack Reiji from behind, but the Shinra agent anticipated it and immediately slashed the monster in half with a double slash before it vanished. Xiaomu uses both her pistols, Silver and Platinum, to successfully shoot at the remaining clouded humanoids and chuckles afterwards, only for one of the weird frogs to leap onto Xiaomu's face, and then leap off, damaging her face as she holds it out of disgust.

" _ **Xiaomu, are you alright?!"**_ Reiji asked out of concern.

" _ **Y..yuck, that thing touched my beautiful…YOU GUYS BETTER NOT HAVE THE COOTIES OR SO HELP I'LL…."**_ Xiaomu yelled angrily as tears were shown on her face, but was then interrupted…

" _ **GET THE HELL OUTTA MY WAY YO!**_ A young loud voice yelled out from behind the Shinra agents.

[ BGM: The World Ends With You - Calling ]

Quickly riding passed the Shinra agents on a skateboard was a teenage boy wearing baggy clothes, a hat with a skull on it, and wore a skull chain around his neck. The teenager then began spinning himself around on his skateboard while striking three of the frogs away before they each dispersed in a black digital-like manner, leaving one more behind him. The last frog attempted jump onto the teenager's back, but he used his right hand to turn himself around and lunge forward on his skateboard, striking the monster away with it before it dispersed. The teenage boy balled his right fist up and exclaimed, _**"Hell yeah, dat was tight!"**_

" _ **Tight, what kind of street slang are kids learning these days?"**_ Xiaomu asked in confusion from the teen's vocabulary.

" _ **Hey, this city's closed off to the public, get home kid!"**_ Reiji said to the teenager.

" _ **Who the hell you callin' kid, I ain't one of those obedient ass brats dat always listen to da grown-ups ya dig?!"**_ The teenager said rebelliously but then realized something was off and said, _**"….Wai-hold up, who are you guys, you bossin' me around wit that Reaper bullshit?!"**_

" _ **Reaper, I don't follow."**_ Reiji said confused.

" _ **I think he just called you the Grim Reaper Reiji, your skills made you a natural…well…thanks to me of course."**_ Xiaomu said praising herself.

" _ **Not Grim Reaper you dumbass, Reapers…REAPERS!"**_ The teenager boy said frustrated by Xiaomu's obliviousness.

" _ **Jeepers Creepers, where'd you get THOSE sneakers?!"**_ Xiaomu said jokingly but irritated by the teen's outbursts.

" _ **That story is about as old as your age pipsqueak…"**_ Reiji said to Xiaomu before he returned his attention towards the teenager and said, _**"We're not "Reapers", but you seem to know what's going on around here…mind filling us in afterwards, we've got unfinished business with that hooded ruffian."**_

" _ **Aight, fine…wait hooded ruffed up what?"**_

The teenager turned and immediately recognized the hooded person who became hostile and said, _**"Traitor found, prepare to die Daisukeno-"**_

" _ **BWAAAH! Dontchu say it!"**_ The teenager exclaimed out of embarrassment before he got angry and said, _**"It's Beat, I'm gonna make you remember dat Reaper, and then you're gonna tell me where you took Neku!"**_

" _ **I don't know what you're talking about, but your fate is sealed traitor!"**_

The Reaper had then lifted his hands up again as two large red symbols appeared next to him, summoning two massive bears with orange tattoos for arms called Mosh Grizzlies that rushed towards the Shinra agents. The Reaper then started to flap his wings into the air and fired blasts towards Beat, but he immediately jumps onto his skateboard and hops into the air before dashing his way towards the Reaper, attempting to hit him with his skateboard, but the hooded attacker blocked the attacks and knocked Beat back as he landed on his rear.

" _ **Ouch, you son of a…."**_ Beat exclaimed but stopped to see that the Reaper was firing blasts at him again, putting his right hand in front of his face and bracing himself, however…

[ BGM: Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD ReMix – Night of Fate ]

A glowing sphere of darkness had moved in front of Beat out of nowhere and transformed itself into the Keyblade wielder, Riku, who wore different clothing this time which consisted of a white vest with a large black collar, a yellow back, and a black stripe along the bottom as well as around each arm hole. Riku then uses the power of darkness to generate a spherical barrier around him and Beat, blocking the blasts. Beat moved his hand away and noticed Riku had saved him and said, _**"Da hell, where'd you come from yo?"**_ Riku didn't bother to turn back and answered, _**"Ask questions later…"**_

" _ **Another unidentified target, continuing combat…"**_ the Reaper said as he started firing rapid blasts from both his hands this time.

" _ **Shit, look out man!"**_ Beat yelled towards Riku, however Riku transforms himself back into a sphere of darkness and ascends towards the flying Reaper left and right, dodging each of the blasts. Once Riku got in front of the now defenseless Reaper, he knocked the hooded attacker higher into the air with his Keyblade and then slashed him downward. Beat uses this opportunity to lunge himself forward on his skateboard and knocks the Reaper back and he fell onto the ground, knocked out.

Riku landed safely on the street as Beat ran towards him and said, _**"Yo you got some skills, are you a Player too?"**_

Riku turned to the skateboarder and answered, _**"A Player…no, where am I anyways, what world is this?"**_

" _ **Wuzzat, you mean you don't know anything about the UG, or the Reaper's Game, or those Noise over attackin' those cop actin' people?"**_ Beat said as he pointed towards the Mosh Grizzlies.

" _ **Noise, those monsters…their arms pattern look just like that shark that attacked me and my friend back in our world…come on, let's help them out."**_ Riku said as he ran towards the fight.

Meanwhile, one of the Mosh Grizzlies raises one of its arms and attempts a wide slash through Reiji, however the Shinra agent uses his Lightning Quick Kata technique and dashes through the attack with lightning speed, before he appears behind the Grizzly Noise and thrusts his flaming Japanese sword, Karin, through the Mosh Grizzly as flames start to burn around it before its knocked back. However, barely effected the Mosh Grizzly growls and attempts to slash Reiji again, but from behind it, Xiaomu uses her Suiren swordstick to slash waves knocking the monster back and then traps the Grizzly Noise in a magic rectangular symbol. This allowed Reiji to fire continuously at the Mosh Grizzly with his guns before Xiaomu finishes it off with an upward slash, cutting the trap and the Grizzly Noise in two before it dispersed.

The other Mosh Grizzly was ready to attack them as it let out a loud roar, but Beat jumped onto its back while on his skateboard and slammed it down as he rode over it, he and Riku then approaches the Shinra agents.

" _ **Yo you guys okay?"**_ Beat asked.

" _ **We're holding up alright, now who are you guys?"**_ Reiji asked.

" _ **The name's Beat yo, I don't know this guy though he just appeared outta nowhere…kinda like you guys did."**_ Beat answered.

" _ **It's Riku…"**_ Riku answered coldly as he crossed his arms.

Xiaomu asked curiously as she looked at Riku's Keyblade.

" _ **You might want to save the questions for later…"**_ Riku said as he slightly turned his head to notice the Mosh Grizzly getting back up to fight, but then…

" _ **Whoa, Reiji…!"**_ Xiaomu said with a surprisingly concerning tone.

" _ **What's wrong, you sense something else approaching?"**_ Reiji asked Xiaomu.

" _ **The strangest thing I've sensed today, in years…come out dark creatures, I know you're hiding!"**_ Xiaomu yelled.

[ BGM: Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD ReMix – Destiny's Force ]

Suddenly, the sky began to turn dark, much to everyone but Riku's surprise as he showed a shocked expression on his face, recognizing this atmosphere. A large dark dimensional pool started to slowly appear on the ground from below the Mosh Grizzly, emitting darkness in the form of misty black and violet wisps as it dragged the Grizzly Noise down to its demise. Then rising from the darkness was a massive, muscular, humanoid with black skin called a Darkside. There was a large, heart-shaped hole in the humanoid's abdominal area, which penetrated straight through from the front to the back. The humanoid's head was covered in dozens of twisted, black, tentacles and only its small, glowing yellow eyes were visible. It used its long arm to punch the ground as it created a pool, summoning a group of little humanoid creatures with the same glowing yellow eyes as its summoner called Shadows.

" _ **Woah woah what the hell, these ain't Noise!"**_ Beat yelled in shock.

" _ **They may be reinforcements with those new cloud beings we fought earlier, regardless they don't seem very friendly."**_ Reiji said.

"… _ **Because they're not, these are beings from my world called the Heartless…they must've followed me here somehow."**_ Riku said before he thought to himself, _**"(But that's impossible, Yen Sid said the barrier to the Realm of Sleep couldn't even be penetrated by the likes of the Heartless, unless this isn't…!)"**_

" _ **Crap, just as I thought, everything's becoming unstable again and could be sealed off at any moment…I can only wonder what's causing it this time."**_ Reiji said, but then he unsheathed his Karin sword and continued…

[ BGM: Project X Zone 2 – Arisu in Fluxtown ]

" _ **Nonetheless, it's up to us as noble Shinra agents to stop otherworldly threats that'll harm humanity...Xiaomu, let's finish off this giant menace."**_ Reiji said ready for battle.

" _ **Don't have to tell me twice, I always love the giant boss battles, because now I can bring out the big guns and get those bonus points!"**_ Xiaomu said with excitement.

" _ **Man ya'll are weird, but I ain't one to run from a fight, lezz do dis man."**_ Beat said to Riku as he moved forward on his skateboard.

" _ **Yeah, sure."**_ Riku said before he thought to himself again and said, _**"( He kinda remains me of Sora, always ready to take any chance without a second thought…Sora, where are you? )"**_

As Beat dashes towards the group of Shadows, Riku follows behind him and points his Keyblade forward to launch a single ball of dark flame that splits apart and ignites some of the Shadows. With dark flames lying on the ground from Riku's dark magic, as Riku leaps into the air and fires two more balls towards the remaining Shadows, Beat rides onto the dark flames from the ground and spins himself around, creating a dark spinning flame from his skateboard as he continuously attacks the Shadows before he finishes them off by flipping backwards on his skateboard, while trailing the dark flames upward as the Shadows vanish.

Meanwhile the Darkside creates a dark force in the heart-shaped hole, which then fires blasts of dark energy as they target everyone. Xiaomu ran towards the Darkside, jumped into the air and cut through some of the dark blasts with her Suiren as the blasts instantly split in half and disappeared. The Mystic Fox then exclaimed, _**"Xiaomu Kick!"**_ as she rocketed towards the Heartless and kicked it in the face, causing its head to move back a bit before it slowly moved back up as Xiaomu yelled, _**"My precious attack lead to no avail, curse you and your high defense stats you beast!"**_

The Darkside then reaches his right arm out and attempts to slam it towards Xiaomu, who gave a dumbfounded look as she quickly dodged out of the way, but the Heartless's hand goes through the ground as it pulls a dark energy orb as it launches it into the sky, causing it to disperse into spiked orbs raining to the ground. Everyone but Riku got out of the way of the raining orbs as Beat called out to him and said, _**"Yo you wanna die or somethin', get your ass away from it!"**_

[ BGM: Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD ReMix – Fragments of Sorrow ]

" _ **No, don't let fear stop you, I wasn't afraid of the darkness before…and I'm not afraid of the darkness to this day!"**_ Riku said as he body is surrounded by a dark aura while he floated in the air.

" _ **Yo are you serious bro?!"**_ Beat yelled.

" _ **What is that kid doing, I can hardly reach him with those orbs closing in on him….tch, Xiaomu wait here!"**_ Reiji said and ran towards the battle.

" _ **What?! Reiji hold on!"**_ Xiaomu yelled to her partner.

Beat watched as Riku still remained floating and thought to himself, _**"(Damn it, I don't even know dis dude, tho at da same time he don't know me either but saved me from that Reaper….them orbs is gettin' to close, if I go and save him…will I end up erased…like Rhyme did savin' my ass….)"**_ The skateboarder had looked down, balled his fists up irritated by the situation as he growled and yelled, _**"PLAYER OR NOT, YOU AIN'T GETTIN' ERASED HERE YO!"**_

Beat immediately runs towards Riku while holding his skateboard, as some of the orbs that landed on the ground created pools of darkness, but the skateboard managed to evade enough of them to jump and reach his hand out to Riku and said, _**"Yo, you're gonna form a pact with me, whether you like it or NOT!"**_ With that, as soon as Beat grabbed Riku's arm as the Keyblade wielder said _**"Hey, what are you…!"**_ a binding force caused their surroundings to engulf into light.

[ BGM: The World Ends With You – Long Dreams ]

[ Start at 0:15 ]

Suddenly the light fades as Beat and Riku are within a gray space with the Darkside's attack cancelled off. Beat chuckles using this opportunity to jump into the air and throws his arms down as chains appear out of nowhere surrounding the area as the chains cross through the giant Heartless leaving him trapped. Beat hops onto the chains with his skateboard and said, _**"The beat is on!"**_ as Riku does the same with both of them riding through the chains. They both strike the Heartless as they pass through it while riding on the chains, attacking it six times until they both cross paths again, give one last strike simultaneously through the Darkside before they both jump off. Riku then hovers in front of the trapped Heartless while surrounded by a dark aura and said, _**"No more fooling around, it ends here!"**_ Riku lifts his Keyblade up as he rushes the Darkside with strikes from all directions, and finishes by plunging his weapon into the ground, releasing a pillar of dark energy to damage the Heartless as the chains break from the columns of energy that disperses, reverting everything including the atmosphere back to normal as the Darkside slowly vanishes from defeat.

 **~ Super Attack: Chain Attack (Fusion) & Dark Aura ~**

 **( Riku & Beat )**

[ BGM: Project X Zone 2 - Because It's the Right Path ]

" _ **Alright, now that everything's cleaned up, let's get down to the chase…where did you two come from?"**_ Reiji asked Beat and Riku.

" _ **Before we even answer any more than what's already been said, who are you people, and what world is this?"**_ Riku asked.

" _ **My name is Reiji Arisu, and this is Xiaomu, we're agents of the Shinra Organization that handle situations like this on a daily...and you're in Shibuya, the city's supposed to be closed off due to abnormal activities such as what was just witnessed today."**_ Reiji answered.

" _ **Shinra, Shibuya…can't say I've heard of them."**_ Riku said as he looked away.

" _ **Never heard of this "Chin-Ra", but I'm from around here, not exactly from "dis side" of Shibuya though."**_ Beat said.

"" _ **Dis side?!" can you speak proper English please, didn't they teach you this in school?!"**_ Xiaomu asked irritated by Beat's vocabulary.

" _ **Nah, I flunked…"**_ Beat said as he scratched the back of his head, with Xiaomu put her hand over her face.

" _ **What did you mean by "this side of Shibuya" Beat?"**_ Reiji asked out of curiosity.

" _ **Dis side is called the Underground, it exists only for us Players brought from the dead, and those Reapers runnin' shit….we're all part of this stupid game called the Reapers' Game, a competition where Players do missions for a week…or else we get erased if we screw up ya dig?"**_ Beat explained before he looked down in thoughts of his sister, Rhyme.

" _ **W-wait, you mean you're actually dead?!"**_ Xiaomu asked before she thought for a moment and then said, _**"WAIT DOES THAT MEAN WE'RE ACTUALLY DEAD TOO?! BUT I HAD SO MUCH TO LIVE FOR!"**_

" _ **I highly doubt that, but from what I understand so far is that we were somehow dragged into a parallel plane of existence of Shibuya, probably due to the unstable force on our side of Shibuya…but then you're world somehow got connected as well Riku?"**_ Reiji said.

" _ **Yeah…my friend and I were taking part in the Mark of Mastery Exam, part of it was being brought back to the past and as we started…we were attacked by a monster similar to those bears…and then we drowned, got separated…I ended up here thanks to my keyblade."**_ Riku explained to everyone as he looked at his Keyblade before he asked, _**"Have any of you seen him, my friend Sora, has spikey hair, and holds a Keyblade as well…kinda acts like you except the weird way you talk."**_

" _ **Wuzzat, what's wrong wit how I talk?!"**_ Beat asked out of anger.

" _ **Do I have to answer the lost list of wrongs from that question?!"**_ Xiaomu said irritated.

"… _ **Unfortunately we haven't, you and Beat are the only people we've seen since this whole mess started, and then these new monsters added to that."**_ Reiji answered.

" _ **I didn't think I'd run into the Heartless again."**_ Riku said.

" _ **You mean those shadow creatures, they seem to be a big deal in your world."**_ Reiji said.

" _ **That's right, they're mindless beings born from the darkness within people's hearts, negative emotions, and they consume hearts to create more of them."**_ Riku explained.

" _ **Negative emotions, I think that's what brought the Heartless here in the first place, we're currently investigating a case that involves an "inner hatred" that's effecting this city, and those clouds we fought is our only lead."**_ Reiji said as he looked at Xiaomu before he continued, _**"I have a feeling this is gonna be another long case just like last year's."**_

" _ **Not gonna lie, I'm actually kinda happy, things started to get pretty boring around here lately."**_ Xiaomu said with excitement.

" _ **We should probably return to base to report…Riku, until we figure out a way to bring you back to your world its best you come with us back to headquarters."**_ Reiji said before he turned to Beat and said, _**"Beat, is there a way for us to get out of here?"**_

" _ **Only Reapers got dat kinda power to go between the Underground and da Realground, if you wanna get out of here quick then you gotta become a Reaper yourself…."**_ Beat said before he quickly realized something and held his head before he yelled, _**"AH SHIT I COMPLETELY FORGOT, MY FRIEND NEKU, AND THOSE REAPERS TOOK HIM AWAY….!"**_ Beat had turned and noticed the Reaper that attacked everyone was already gone, then he looked around before he became frustrated and said, _**"Damn it, he got away!"**_

" _ **We'll run into him again, for now we should get going."**_ Reiji said as everyone followed.

When everyone went on ahead, Riku stopped and looked back at the intersection as if someone was there watching him as he thought to himself, _**"(This is all very confusing, that "Noise", the Heartless, not being in the Realm of Sleep, then Sora's missing…I have to figure this out quickly.)"**_

[ Music Stops ]

Meanwhile from above the 104 building, someone covered by a hooded black coat with a fairly tall and masculine build watches the group.

" _ **How did you get here, by choice or by chance, regardless you cannot control what you aren't aware of…but these recent events that have transpired, can prove to be in our favor."**_ The hooded man said before a group of Reapers had appeared behind him as they watched as well.


	2. Prologue 2

~ Prologue 2 – Hunters of Irregulars ~

Humanity has grown weary of Reploids becoming Maverick and their endless rebellions. Thanks to new technology, humans began migrations to the Moon with the "Jakob Project". As part of the project, the Jakob Orbital Elevator was built in the Galápagos Islands, and a highly advanced new generation of Reploids have been created to work on the Moon's surface. One day during the process, a certain railcar had begun to malfunction as it eventually breaks off the track with a large explosion, and crashes on to the surface. Maverick Hunter X was already on patrol of the Orbital Elevator where the wreckage had occurred.

[ Earth ~Future Era~ - Galápagos Islands ]

[ BGM: Namco X Capcom - Enveloping Dark Clouds ]

" _ **This is X, I've encountered an accident while on patrol of the Orbital Elevator, dispatch rescue Mechaniloids immediately!"**_ X commanded while speaking into his communicator.

The Maverick Hunter stops and looks up in shock as a large group of Reploids that all look like Sigma suddenly push aside a piece of metal and exit the ruined vehicle.

" _ **Si... Sigma!?"**_ X said in complete shock.

The Sigmas stare at X, who prepares to fight them, but they then step aside to reveal another Reploid as the stranger explained, " _ **To protect ourselves from damage during the accident, we had to copy a sturdy Sigma Body, we new generation Reploids enjoy complete and total immunity to all viruses...so even copying something as dangerous as Sigma provides no risk."**_

The Reploids around him glow white and shift back to their normal forms.

X reluctantly relaxes and asks, _**"Who are you?"**_

" _ **I'm Lumine, I'm the director in charge of the Elevator, and of the Jakob Project."**_ The reploid kindly answered.

X stares at Lumine until suddenly his communicator starts to beep and the Maverick Hunter's Operator Alia reaches out to brief all the hunters on Maverick activity nearby.

" _ **I'm picking up Maverick readings near the Jakob facility, all Hunters near Point Galapagos, please dispatch immediately!"**_ Alia commanded urgently.

" _ **Roger!"**_ X responded as he looked towards Lumine and the new reploids with concern.

Lumine smiled and said, _**"Go on, we'll take it from here, after all as Maverick Hunters it is your duty to prevent all Maverick attacks no?"**_

X nodded and answered, _**"Very well, the rescue Mechaniloids should be here shortly."**_

As X ran off to his mission, Lumine only smiled as he watched the Maverick Hunter.

[ Earth ~Future Era~ - Outskirts of Mute City, Lightning ]

Renowned bounty hunter and F-Zero champion, Captain Falcon, saw on a news bulletin in a pub within Mute City of a report that his arch nemesis Black Shadow was attacking the Lightning, which lead him to abruptly depart. Once Falcon arrived at Lightning he found the city in peril and eventually spotted Black Shadow as he pursued the villain on his race machine, the Blue Falcon. Once he caught up to Black Shadow, who stood on top of his race machine the Black Bull, Falcon stepped out of his machine and moves towards him.

[ Earth ~Future Era~ - Outskirts of Mute City, Lightning ]

[ BGM: F-Zero GX – Time For Kill ]

" _ **Falcon, you've come to die, I needn't have wasted time looking for you then!"**_ Black Shadow said staring down at the bounty hunter.

" _ **Let's settle this at the Grand Prix, not like this Black Shadow, it's the coward's way."**_ Falcon said as he pointed towards his nemesis.

Black Shadow had jumped down gracefully from his machine as he walked towards Falcon and said, _**"The coward's way you say, you make it sound so noble…I plan to eliminate anyone who stands between me and the prize, simple as that."**_

" _ **We'll see about that!"**_ Falcon said as he put his fists up.

Black Shadow's body was then glowing with a dark aura as he uses his dark powers to create blue flames before he yelled, _**"Falcon, take this!"**_ firing a dark blast, however Falcon was able to dodge the attack. Black Shadow continued to fire his dark blasts from his right hand as Falcon dodged each of the attacks and then jumped into the air to deliver his signature move, Falcon Punch, to Black Shadow but was interrupted when his sadistic clone Blood Falcon intercepted it with a forward aerial knee strike, which caused an exploding collision and knocked them both back safely to the ground.

" _ **You again!"**_ Falcon said surprised to encounter his clone again.

" _ **So we meet once more Falcon, did you really think you saw the last of me?"**_ Blood Falcon said as he crossed his arms.

" _ **Once I stop the both of you this will be the last time."**_ Falcon said.

" _ **Is that so…"**_ __Black Shadow yelled as he snapped his fingers, which caused six copies of Blood Falcon to teleport into the area as they all went into fighting stances. The real Blood Falcon clone gritted his teeth in disgust towards the other clones.

" ** _You summoned a bunch of obsolete copies of me?! I'm the best one you've got, let me kill Falcon, master!"_** ****Blood Falcon said arrogantly.

" ** _Oh don't worry Blood Falcon you'll get your turn."_** ****Black Shadow answered as he crossed his arms, returning his attention to Captain Falcon. He then reached his arm out, ready to issue the command to his minions. ** _"Now my minions, atta…."_**

[ BGM: Project X Zone 2 – The Gate of Resolved Fates ]

Before he could finish that sentence, lightning from above had jolted down and crashed in front of them which caused the electrical currents around the area to create a dark rift in the middle of everyone.

" ** _What's this?!"_** Black Shadow wondered.

Captain Falcon had put his fists down and said. **_"Some kind of rift, but why did the lightning do this out of the blue, is the power around here going unstable?!"_**

Suddenly, the rift's force started pulling everything in catching everyone around it as they struggle not to get dragged in, the clones except the real Blood Falcon were already dragged into the dark rift. However, Black Shadow was unfazed by the force as he surrounded himself with his dark aura again.

" ** _Such amazing power from this dark essence…"_** Black Shadow said as he walked into it without any thought. This shocked both Captain and Blood Falcon as the bounty hunter rushed after Black Shadow immediately, but the evil clone did a quick roundhouse kick only for Captain Falcon to do a backflip away from the attack.

" ** _Patience Falcon, you'll get your chance soon enough, ha ha ha ha!"_** Blood Falcon laughed as he flipped in with the rift slowly closing.

With little time left, Captain Falcon ran to his Blue Falcon and jumped inside. Once he started up the machine, the bounty hunter drove inside the rift as it closed.

[ Earth ~Future Era~ - Galápagos Islands, Noah's Park ]

Samus Aran, a famed intergalactic bounty hunter employed by the Galactic Federation, was sent on a mission after she was briefed from her superiors on the occurrence of Phazon appearing in Point Galápagos. Equipped in her enhanced Power Suit, The readings had brought her inside a facility within a dense jungle called Noah's Park, there she encountered a being she immediately recognized, her evil Phazon dobbleganger Dark Samus. The being was surrounded by large broken pieces which belonged to a crab-like Mechaniloid called the Crabs-Y, destroyed by the hands of Dark Samus.

" _ **I destroyed you, and the remains of the Phazon…how are you still here?!"**_ Samus said as she was in shock of Dark Samus' presence, but the being remained silent until she lifted her Arm Cannon towards Samus. _**"Fine by me, this time I'll make sure you're no more."**_

[ BGM: Super Smash Bros. Brawl – Sector 1 ]

Suddenly four construction-worker Mechaniloids called Mettaur C-15, and two bipedal missile launcher Mechaniloids called Bustards marched into the area, surrounding both Samus and Dark Samus. Samus had notied something was off about them as their eyes were glowing blue. _**"(Wait, these are those Mechaniloids right….why do they look hostile?)"**_ Samus asked herself as she lifted her Arm Cannon. Dark Samus had then levitated into the air away from Samus and the Mechaniloids as she simply watched everything unfold before the robots immediately turned towards Samus.

Samus used her Scan Visor to scan the Mechaniloids as it detected that they were infected with a corrupted virus as Samus said, _**"A Phazon-like virus….she must've infected the whole facility, I have to end this now."**_ Samus pointed her Arm Cannon towards Dark Samus and fired Beam shots, however one of the Mettaurs jumped in front of it and blocked the attacks with its helmet. The bounty hunter had slowly moved back while she held her arm cannon as the Mettaurs were marching towards her and said, _**"So they're the defense, guess I'll have to use THIS!"**_ Samus had locked onto all of the Mettaurs using her Seeker Missile upgrade on her Arm Cannon, and then fired four missiles which hit each of them before they exploded. The Bustards remained at their positions as they both fired three missiles from their launcher homing towards Samus, however the bounty hunter utilizes the jets on the back of her Power Suit and evades three of the missiles as they explode to the ground, and immediately followed up with a charged shot from her Arm Cannon destroying the remaining three. The Bustards were ready to fire again, however….

[ BGM: Mega Man X7 – Conflict ~Escape Stage~ ]

The Maverick Hunter, Axl, dashes in front of Samus and uses his Double Bullet handguns to fire a flame that scorches the Mechaniloids before they explode. Once Axl regained his balance, he held his gun near his shoulder and said, _**"Ha! Piece of cake, nothin' but small fry Mavericks!"**_ He then looked at Samus and was weirded out before he said, _**"Umm you're welcome….ugh hey why are you staring at me like that?!"**_

" _ **(Looks like I got lucky, but he mentioned Mavericks, as in the robots that rebel against humankind, so then he must be a Maverick Hunter….)"**_ Samus lowered her Arm Cannon and said, _**"Thanks**_ , _**but you probably should leave while you can, this battle is between me and that monster."**_

" _ **I'm not goin' anywhere, there's still bound to be Mavericks around here!"**_ Axl looked up at Dark Samus, confused, and then back at Samus before he said, _**"Wait a sec is that you're evil twin or somethin'?!"**_

" _ **Something like that, she's a Phazon clone of myself that I defeated years ago….you can say she's far worse than a Maverick…."**_ Samus explained.

Dark Samus was then surrounded by dark energy as four dark rifts appeared around the area, which caused Samus to become cautious as she pointed her Arm Cannon in their directions. **_"How did she…these rifts, they look…familiar"_** Samus said as she used her Scan Visor on her helmet to scan the rifts, however the scan came up as an _unknown dimensional anomaly_. **_"Unknown, but then these must be…?!"_**

Suddenly, five Darkling-possessed Space Pirate Troopers called Dark Pirate Troopers, came out of the rifts as they each pointed their weapons at Samus and Axl.

" _ **A-Aliens, here?!"**_ Axl said shocked.

" ** _Just as I thought, those rifts lead to Dark Aether, but that's impossible, that world shouldn't even exist anymore!"_** Samus said.

Then, from the rifts on the side, a group of Blood Falcon copies marched out of them as each of their bodies were covered with blue sickly veins, as if they were infected.

" _ **These guys look more human than those aliens over there, but what's that nasty blue stuff on them?!"**_ Axl asked.

Samus had used her Scan Visor to scan the Blood Falcon copies and said, _**"Oh no…they've been infected with Phazon, but these readings I'm getting, these humans have the same body structure as…."**_ Samus paused as she heard the screams of a machine approaching, and a voice yelling….

[ Music Stops ]

 ** _"Come on! Blue Falcon!"_**

[ BGM: Super Smash Bros. Brawl – Mute City (Ver. 2) ]

It was Captain Falcon's vehicle Blue Falcon that drove out of the rift at full-speed, running over some of the Darklings and Blood Falcon copies which sent them flying out of the facility, leaving three Dark Pirate Troopers and two Blood Falcons. The vehicle then came to a full stop and the hatch opened as Captain Falcon jumped out to aid Samus.

" ** _Captain Falcon?! Wow am I glad to see you here!"_** Samus said relieved.

" ** _It's always a pleasure Samus Aran, but perhaps you can thank me after we handle this pest control problem of yours, what do you say?"_** Captain Falcon suggested.

" _ **Wait, you actually know thee Captain Falcon, champion of the F-Zero Grand Prix and legendary bounty hunter?!"**_ Axl asked Samus as he looked back and forth at both of them.

" _ **He's an ally of mine from a previous mission, and also well affiliated with the Galactic Federation."**_ Samus explained to Axl __before she looked back him and asked, _ **"Falcon, what were you doing in Dark Aether?"**_

" _ **If you mean that rift I just drove out of, it wasn't intentional, I was on a mission pursuing my target and his followers until the same rift appeared in front of us….they escaped inside and I followed, until I found and opening and ended up here by chance."**_ Falcon explained before he analyzed Axl and said, _**"You're definitely familiar, Axl right? Weren't you part of that vigilante group Red Alert?"**_

" _ **I heard about them, I thought that syndicate was no more?"**_ Samus added.

" _ **Not surprised a legend would know about that…but it's not, thanks to that "madman" that made them go Maverick, I'm not one of them anymore, I fight for justice now…"**_ Axl said as he loaded his handguns, seeing the enemies approaching. _**"I hate to cut this chat short, but those guys aren't really looking to sit and wait."**_

" _ **Well, let's give them what they want."**_ Samus said.

Falcon noticed the infected Blood Falcons and said, _**"These are the clones of myself, what the hell happened to them?"**_

" _ **I find this hard to believe, but Dark Samus infected them with Phazon, we'll have to stop them quick so they don't escape and infect the outside…"**_ Samus suggested.

" _ **Got it, that's all I need to know!"**_ Falcon said as they ran towards the enemies.

" _ **(I'm actually fighting alongside real bounty hunters, X and Zero are gonna be so jealous when they find out.)"**_ Axl said with excitement.

As Samus and Captain Falcon approached the Phazon infected Blood Falcons, one attempted to punch Falcon, but the bounty hunter punched the clone twice and lastly strikes him away with a knee strike. Another Blood Falcon tried to sneak attack Samus, but she turned and fires her Grapple Beam, catching the clone and swings him behind her towards Falcon, who rears back and then leans forward, striking him away with a lunging burning elbow. The first Blood Falcon that was knocked out got back up and grappled Falcon from behind by the neck as Samus yelled _**"Falcon!"**_ , however Falcon responded, _**"Don't worry, this is…nothing!"**_ as he yelled and pulled the clone forward, throwing him into the air with a shoulder throw. Samus then jumped forward into the air as she passed the flying Blood Falcon clone and said, _**"Take this!"**_ as she performed a back kick, which knocked the clone into a wall.

Axl started running towards the Dark Pirate Troopers, who then proceeded to fire their guns at long range. Axl dodged each of their weapon fire, then jumped above them with a flip until he caught one of the trooper's heads from above and slammed it to the ground, and lastly while pinning down the trooper he fired shots from his handgun to it head killing it as it dissolved into nothingness. Another trooper quickly dashed towards Samus and attempted to strike her with its combat scythe, but the Maverick Hunter dodged into air and said, _**"Time for you to cool off!"**_ as he used his Splash Laser, emitting a beam of water that splashes both the remaining Dark Pirate Trooper to the ground. As Axl landed, he noticed the Dark Pirate Troopers were unaffected but were drenched in water as he only smirked and said, _**"I never dealt with aliens before, but you're just about as dumb as the Mettaur!"**_ The Maverick Hunter equips his Ray Gun and points it to the ground, shooting an energy blast to the ground as it creates electrified spiral called the Volt Tornado, which rolls forward and electrifies the Dark Pirate Troopers before they're destroyed.

[ Music Stops ]

Dark Samus, seeing as the Darklings and Blood Falcons were destroyed, becomes enraged as she levitates toward Samus and Falcon and fires her scattershot Shrapnel Beam, but they both managed to run away from the attack as Samus said, " _ **Looks like she's out of options, time to finish this!"**_ Dark Samus once again uses her newfound powers and summons another dark rift from above, however a voice yelled out, _**"I smell a CAPTAIN FALCON hehe!"**_

Falcon immediately recognized the sadistic voice and said, _**"You're like a nightmare coming back to haunt me, show yourself Blood Falcon!"**_

[ BGM: Project X Zone 2 – Accelerating Chaos ]

The real Blood Falcon, who was perfectly himself and not infected, had jumped out of the rift along with two Blood Falcons and two Dark Pirate Troopers as they landed safely on the ground. **_"Ba ha ha ha ha haaaa! My prey is here, this is perfect…huh?"_** Blood Falcon said before he noticed Samus Aran and smirked. **_"Oooh is that the OTHER bounty hunter Samus Aran, well I suppose I can kill her too, can't have the Galactic Federation after me ha ha ha ha!"_** he said sadistically.

" ** _Great, while I know he's not normal I can at least tell he's not infected."_** Samus said annoyed.

" _ **What's with you guys and these evil twins…let me guess, another clone?"**_ Axl asked as he crossed his arms.

 _"_ ** _He's a clone from my DNA, long story."_** Captain Falcon said before he returned his attention to his clone and asked, _"_ ** _Where is Black Shadow, Blood Falcon?!"_**

" ** _The hell if I know, we all got separated and I got stuck with these ugly obsolete copies, but I can't complain, because you're right here too Falcon!"_** ****Blood Falcon said.

" _ **Talk about obsessed….so you're affiliated with Dark Samus as well?"**_ Samus asked.

" _ **Heh, I'm not interested in some alien's plague, we just share common enemies…"**_ Blood Falcon said as he pointed to Dark Samus and yelled, _**"….and when I'm done with Falcon, you're gonna lead me back to my master, got that alien?!"**_

Dark Samus only remained quiet as she focused on Samus.

" _ **(So he's using her, but why is Dark Samus even allowing that to go on…is it because she's currently not at her full strength with Phaaze gone?")**_ Samus had thought.

[ BGM: Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X – Opening Stage (Central Highway) ]

The doors to the entrance was blasted off as one Bustard was blasted through before it exploded. The Maverick Hunters, X and Zero, had rushed into the area and noticed everything that's been going on, but then spotted their partner Axl.

" _ **Axl, are you alright?!"**_ X asked out of concern.

" _ **Barely broke a sweat, it's about time you guys showed up, and here I thought I was about to steal the spotlight from you two."**_ Axl bragged as he shrugged his shoulders.

" _ **Don't get cocky Axl, this mission is still underway…we have to find that Maverick quickly and collect that sample Alia asked for."**_ Zero said but then noticed the broken parts of the Crabs-Y and said, _**"Wait, those broke Mechaniloid pieces, X…."**_

" _ **There's no doubt about it, that was our target….so that explains why the Maverick's signal faded when we got close, but who destroyed it?"**_ X wondered, but he then noticed Samus and Captain Falcon who he recognized as he was shocked and said, _**"You two, aren't you the bounty hunters Samus Aran and Captain Falcon?"**_

"… _ **.Well what do you know, the famed Maverick Hunters X and Zero, I somehow figured you both would show up with all this "Maverick" talk…I apologize but the Mechaniloid was destroyed by my own target."**_ Samus explained.

" _ **That at least makes our mission abit easier now, but I have a feeling we shouldn't ignore this either."**_ Zero said as he turned to X. _**"What do we do now X?"**_

" _ **I don't like the idea of being involved with matters of the Galactic Federation, but we still need to clear the area…"**_ X said as two more Mettaur C-15s and one Bustard entered through the entrance behind X and Zero as they both readied themselves. He then continued, _**"….especially since there's still Mavericks roaming around."**_

" ** _More of you heroic bastards!"_** Blood Falcon said as he ran towards the group and then pointed his finger at Falcon. **_"Alright, this chatter needs to cease, Falcon you're mine!"_**

Falcon moved his fists up before he said **_"If it'll shut you up, then fine, I'll take you down."_**

" ** _Hey Maverick Hunters, be careful when fighting those Mechaniloids, Dark Samus infected the whole facility with a Phazon virus and they're under her control now….if you're damaged it'll corrupt you as well."_** Samus warned the hunters.

" ** _Phazon?"_** X said confused.

" ** _Infecting and corrupting its target, it sounds just like the Sigma Virus….let's take her advice into consideration X."_** Zero suggested as he took out his Z-Saber.

Everyone had split up to take on the enemies surrounding them. X and Zero went to take on the corrupted Mechaniloids while Axl started shooting his handguns at the Dark Pirate Troopers and Blood Falcons from a distance. Samus choice to take on her Phazon clone Dark Samus, and Captain Falcon fought against his clone, the real Blood Falcon.

[ BGM: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes – Multiplayer ]

The Mettaurs had covered themselves with their helmets creating a defense formation in front of the Bustard who started to shoot missiles towards X and Zero. X equipped his Crescent Shot and shot three crescent blades which moved upward destroying the missiles as Zero dashes forward and flips into the air. Zero then turns his Z-Saber into ice and performs his Hyouretsuzan, a downward thrust, stabbing the Mettaurs with it as he stabs the ground, causing the blade to shatter. With the Mettaurs out of the way, Zero focused on the Bustard and used his heavy overhead slash technique, Hadangeki, unleashing a powerful yellow wave of energy that cut through the Mechaniloid with ease before it exploded.

" _ **And that takes care of them."**_ Zero said.

" _ **It's not over yet, let's go help Axl."**_ X said.

Axl had dashes back while being chased by a shooting Dark Pirate Trooper, but then the reploid uses the jets on his feet to hover into the air as the Darkling jumps, attempting to slash him with its combat scythe. Axl smirked as he pointed his handgun to the Darkling's face and shot t in the head as it disintegrated. Once the reploid landed, he noticed the last Dark Pirate Trooper and the corrupted Blood Falcons running towards him, which gave him enough time to equip his G-Launcher over his shoulder. _**"Introducing, the G-Launcher!"**_ Axl yelled as he fired a large burst of energy towards the enemies as they're caught in the explosion, destroying them all. The Maverick Hunter shrugged his shoulders and said, _ **"Heh, it just keeps getting easier and easier"**_ , however both the corrupted Blood Falcons, who were badly wounded, had jumped out of the smoke attempting to grab onto Axl, who noticed too late. Just in time, a charged blast had come from behind and obliterated both of the Blood Falcons as X and Zero came to the rescue.

" _ **How'd those guys even survive an attack like that from my G-Launcher?!"**_ Axl asked in shock.

" _ **A normal human wouldn't, but it's perhaps the effects of that Phazon that they managed to withstand it."**_ Zero answered.

" _ **We'll look into it later, let's clear the area."**_ X suggested.

Both Samus and Captain Falcon had looked towards their evil clones as Dark Samus remained levitated and Blood Falcon stood next to her, glaring at his mortal enemy. Once Blood Falcon gestured them to come closer and exclaimed, _**"Bring it!"**_ both the bounty hunters charged towards them, only for them to flip away from a ground-based energy wave caused by Dark Samus as she punched the ground. Blood Falcon dashed toward Falcon while sadistically laughing and pulled his arm back, charging fire into his hand, as Falcon did the same and dashed forward and caused their flaming fists to collide. Samus jumped into the air and fired her Super Missile towards Blood Falcon, who easily dodged the attack and grabbed the missile with one hand as he smirked and throw it back towards her. _**"What?!"**_ Samus exclaimed as she rolled out of the way, but Dark Samus fires homing blasts of Phazon towards the bounty hunter, who is saved as a huge boulder called a Gaea Shield that generates in front of her and blocks the clone's attacks.

X dashes near Samus and pushes the boulder forward as it hits Dark Samus away and pointed his X-Buster towards it. He looked back at Samus and asked, _**"If this Phazon is as dangerous as you say, then we need to destroy the source immediately before it spreads any further, correct?"**_ Samus had got up and nodded as she pointed her arm cannon towards Dark Samus as she performed a cartwheel flip to the right, producing a near-perfect clone of herself called a Dark Echo. _**"This thing can produce clones?!"**_ X said as Samus answered, _**"Don't worry, this is usually the case that she's getting weaker….without Phaaze she's not at her full power."**_ Dark Samus had jumped up and fires her Shrapnel Beam towards the hunters as the Dark Echo starts dashing around firing homing blasts. Seemingly surrounded by Phazon blasts, Zero dashes in with a charged up Z-Buster and exclaims _**"Rekkoha!"**_ as he punches the ground, bringing down a salvo of rainbow-colored pillars of energy from the sky, eradicating all of the blasts including the Dark Echo, also Dark Samus was only stunned from the attack as she fell, giving the heroes an opportunity to attack. Samus started charging energy into her arm cannon as she watched her clone reaching her hand out as a small dark portal started to develop which caused Samus to run toward her and say, _**"You're not getting away from this, Dark Samus!"**_ Samus immediately fired her fully charged shot as it as it eventually blasted and destroyed Dark Samus into Phazon particles, but the small dark portal had sucked the remains inside as the portal disappeared.

" _ **She managed to escape back to Dark Aether, damn it!"**_ Samus said as she punched the ground.

" _ **On the bright side Samus, at least she wasn't able to escape the facility to cause any more harm, at least for a while due to her weaken state."**_ X said.

" _ **(But if another dark portal reaches out, earth could be in danger to a Phazon outbreak.)"**_ Samus thought to herself.

[ BGM: F-Zero GX – Brain Cleaner ]

Captain and Blood Falcon anticipated each other's attack moves, with Blood Falcon being the exact clone of Captain Falcon himself. They've collided punches, kicks, and even attempted to parry each other's throws but managed to escape them. Blood Falcon laughed sadistically and said, **_"It's impossible Falcon, I know all of your moves and strategies, we're exactly the same!"_** Captain Falcon responded **_"Perhaps so, but there's one thing you lack, you're nothing like me."_** Blood Falcon gritted his teeth and yelled **_"Shut the hell up, soon I'll be the only true Falcon!"_** Both Falcons dashed towards each other and while Blood Falcon leaped into the air, Captain Falcon pulled his arm back before dashing forward and the same time both Falcons used their Raptor Boost attack, with their flaming fists colliding as they were _**both**_ pushed back. Captain Falcon was almost out of ideas, but then he noticed something and smiled at his clone. Blood Falcon was confused and asked **_"What the hell are you smiling at?"_** Captain Falcon answered **_"You're still lacking that one thing Blood Falcon."_** Blood Falcon growled angrily but then stopped to hear the sound of charging energy and notices a little too late…

[ BGM: Super Smash Bros. 3DS & Wii U – Mute City (Ver. 3) ]

[ Start at 0:10 ]

A Super Missile hits Blood Falcon from behind and knocks him into the air as Samus dashes towards him with a shoulder tackle, then follows up with a upward corkscrew flying kick hitting the evil clone multiples times before knocking him away with the last hit, and exclaims _**"This is it, you're finish!"**_ before she blasts Blood Falcon down with her Charge Shot. Falcon then runs towards the falling Blood Falcon with an aerial double kick, followed by a flip kick, and lastly uses his Falcon Strike to jump higher and punch the evil clone into the sky. Samus catches up with the airborne Blood Falcon and uses her Screw Attack, hitting him multiple times while carrying him further into the air before she falls down, allowing Falcon to leap over Blood Falcon and charge power into his fist while turning towards him. Still in midair Captain Falcon readied his finishing move and yelled **_"Falcon, Punch!"_** as he punched Blood Falcon in the face with a powerful falcon-shaped flaming punch and knocked him down as the evil clone tumbled onto the ground.

 **~ Super Attack: Reverse Falcon Punch & Charge Shot ~**

 **( Captain Falcon & Samus Aran )**

Blood Falcon got up holding his damaged jaw and yelled **_"DID…I…JUST LOSE?!"_** Samus walked towards Captain Falcon who said **_"Get back to me when you find out what you lack."_** With, that Blood Falcon screamed with anger and ran off through a large broken hole that lead outside. Samus asked **_"You sure about letting him off?"_** and he answered **_"I'm sure we'll meet again, besides, I need him and that clone of yours to lead me to Black Shadow."_**

[ BGM: Project X Zone 2 – Because It's The Right Path ]

Zero and Axl had started collecting the samples from the destroyed Mechaniloid's pieces as X speaks to Alia through into his communicator.

" _ **All Mavericks are clear from the facility, and we're now retrieving the sample… though I must also report we ran into another problem that involved a certain substance called "Phazon" that corrupted some of the Mechaniloids and criminals wanted by the Galactic Federation."**_ X explained.

" _ **Phazon? I can't say I've heard of it, how did you learn about it?"**_ Alia asked.

" _ **We actually ran into the intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran and F-Zero racer Captain Falcon, both were on missions that by chance lead them here to the facility….from what Samus explained to me, this substance could be just as bad as the Sigma Virus."**_ X explained.

" _ **Woah I…I see, we'll see what to do from there if we have to, for now I need to start analyzing those samples right away, bring it to me as soon as you can!"**_ Alia said.

" _ **Roger."**_ X answered as he turned off his communicator and looked towards Samus and Captain Falcon, _**"It's a good thing you both were around, we would've never known of this Phazon if not for your help Samus."**_

" _ **I'm just as new to this "Phazon" info as you are, but if Black Shadow and his followers are within that portal…I'm gonna assume they've encounter it as well, nonetheless I have to stop him."**_ Falcon said.

" _ **I'd rather wish this was a nightmare after my last encounter with Dark Samus and the Phazon, but it's clear she's back and I have to handle the matter, for Earth's sake."**_ Samus said.

Axl had walked up to the group and added, _**"Why bother, half of the human race are already runnin' off to the Moon now thanks to the constant Maverick attacks, and this alien attack makes matters worse."**_

Zero stood alongside Axl and said, _**"Don't jump to conclusions just yet Axl, who's to say this won't spread throughout the galaxy, then what….this is why we have to fight."**_

[ Music Stops ]

From the large broken hole on the wall, a sudden barrage of missiles came down and caused everyone to move out of the way as the missiles crashed down causing an explosion. Once the smoke had cleared, X looked up to see his sworn enemy, Vile who was in a new green and yellow form called Vile V, standing on top of a wall.

[ BGM: Megaman X8 - Boss Confrontation (Demo 3) ]

" _ **How nice to see you again, X!"**_ Vile said.

" _ **Vile?!"**_ X said in shock as he and Samus pointed their weapons at him.

Axl and Falcon looked at them confused before Zero explained, _**"He used to be a Class A Hunter, but now he's our sworn enemy, he's a Maverick and a wanted criminal."**_

" _ **Well if he's another criminal, like any other wanted criminal we have to stop him."**_ Falcon said as he went into his fighting stance.

Vile chuckled and said, _**"I'd love to stay and play, but I'm afraid I have too much work to do."**_

The Maverick then gestures to a large machine behind him that is holding an unconscious Lumine captive.

" _ **Oh no, Lumine?!"**_ X said worried.

" _ **Wait, isn't that the director of that new Jakob Project, what's that guy plotting?"**_ Samus asked as she saw the captive reploid.

" _ **Heh, wouldn't you like to know famed bounty scum Samus Aran…"**_ Vile said before he turned to X and said, _**"The Orbital Elevator is now under our control."**_

" _ **Just what do you plan to do?!"**_ X asked.

" _ **It begins now, X…a new world will be born! Hahahaha!"**_ Vile said before he flies away and escapes with Lumine in tow before the Hunters can catch him.


	3. Prologue 3

~ Prologue 3 – The Warriors of Light ~

Long after the events of the previous thirteen cycles, the dimension of World B is revitalized for a conflict between Materia, the goddess of protection, and Spiritus, the god of destruction, who respectively summon the warriors of Cosmos and Chaos as their champions. From another world, Noctis Lucis Caelum, is presumably riding in the back seat of the Regalia when he is engulfed in white light and falls back, finding himself transported to a seemingly uninhabited land of World B.

[ World B – Deserted Wasteland ]

" _ **Uh, where the hell am I?"**_ Noctis said as he got himself up and looks around calling for his friends, and then assumed _**"Must be Gladio's doing."**_

He then searches his jacket for his smartphone until…

He soon heard footsteps close by and encounters four Manikins, cursed crystalline mockeries of men that crawled from the Rift, two that were imitations of himself called Twilight Princes, and two as another female warrior named the Evanescent Glimmers.

" _ **You all the welcoming committ….wait a second, two of those look just like me!"**_ Noctis noticed before he saw them ready to attack, which caused Noctis to summon his Engine Blade. _**"Not such a friendly welcome after all!"**_

[ BGM: Final Fantasy XV – Stand Your Ground ]

Both of the Twilight Princes threw their blades forward and used Noctis's Warp technique as they teleported towards their weapons, and caught them as they attempted to strike Noctis with a forward thrust, however at the same time, the prince moved back and quickly summoned his Two-Handed Sword. Noctis then swung the sword upward, slashing the Twilight Princes into the air, and then downward to the ground as he slashed the two Manikins away causing them to perish into shattered dust. He then saw one of the Evanescent Glimmers dash towards him attempting to strike him as the other summoned fireballs that slowly traveled forward. Noctis used his Warp technique to simply move aside and dodge the attack while leaving blue sparkles around him before striking the Manikin with three strikes from his Engine Blade, destroying it. With the fireballs picking up speed and homing towards him, Noctis saw a nearby cliff and threw his blade towards it as he warped to its direction, causing the blade to stick into the edge of the cliff as the prince held on to his weapon. The prince then noticed two more Evanescent Glimmers appearing to aid the Manikin as Noctis said _**"So they just keep coming eh?!"**_ One of the Manikins had casted a spell that summoned lightning above Noctis as he noticed too late, causing the bolt to destroy the cliff and knock Noctis off of it.

As the prince started to fall, he saw another Evanescent Glimmer in pursuit towards him and ready to strike him with its blade. Noctis smiled quickly regaining his balance and yelled _**"Checkmate!"**_ as he tossed his Engine Blade which then struck the Manikin just for the prince to warp to it and perform his Warp-Strike, slashing it into dust. Once Noctis landed safely on the ground, the remaining Evanescent Glimmers dashed towards Noctis to attack him as the prince prepared himself.

[ BGM: Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII – Savior of Souls ]

A pink-haired female warrior, Lightning, wearing a black and red garb dashes passed Noctis and spins forward attacking the Manikins from all sides with her blade, and lastly sends them away with a final strike destroying at least one of them. As Lightning noticed the other one attempting to strike her while weakened, she simply walked forward and stabbed the Manikin with her blade, Crimson Blitz, as it fell to the ground and slowly started to dissolve. Lightning then placed her weapon behind her back as she looked at Noctis.

" _ **You okay?"**_ Lightning asked out of concern, however as she got close Noctis became very wary of her before she said, _**"Wait."**_

" _ **Are you real?"**_ Noctis asked as he kept his guard up.

" _ **Heh, what's it look like?"**_ Lightning assured to Noctis that she was real as she placed her hand on her hip. Noctis then looked at the dissolving Manikin as it faded and then looked back at Lightning as she said, _**"I'm sure you can figure it out."**_

Noctis, still confused about the situation, placed his hand over his head and said, _**"…I gotta be dreaming."**_

" _ **Sorry, but you're wide awake."**_ Lightning said as she clearly realized it was his first time in this realm and said, _**"First-timer I see."**_

Accepting that he's not dreaming, he moved his hand down and asked, _**"So then…you're from around here?"**_

Lightning shock her head in response and explained, _**"However, others like us should be here."**_

Surprised, Noctis responded _**"There's…others?"**_

From behind Lightning, a Manikin named the False Hero lurks behind them but is struck down by a warrior clad in blue armor, wielding a sword and shield. Though he doesn't know his own name, he is known as "The Warrior of Light".

" _ **Like him."**_ Lightning pointed out.

" _ **Is that you, Lightning? And he is…..?"**_ The Warrior of Light asked in regards to Noctis, who reluctantly greets himself as the warrior concluded, _**"A new ally? Welcome to the fight."**_

" _ **Ally? Hold on…."**_ Noctis said confusingly.

" _ **I thought it was finished."**_ Lightning added.

Suddenly, five manikins consisting of two False Heroes, two Evanescent Glimmer, and one Twilight Prince appeared and surrounded them as the champions readied their weapons.

" _ **I'll explain later, for now we must fight!"**_ The Warrior of Light suggested.

[ BGM: Dissdia Final Fantasy – Dungeon (FFI) ]

The Warrior of Light dashed forward as one of the False Heroes attempted to strike the warrior with its blade, but The Warrior of Light blocked the attack with his shield followed by an upward strike, causing the manikin to perish into shattered dust. Two more manikins, a False Hero and an Evanescent Glimmer, started casting fireballs and wind magic targeting the warrior as he started running to evade their attacks. The warrior stopped himself while dragging his feet as he yelled **_"Bathe in the light!"_** and swung his sword to perform his Shining Wave, sending a wave of light towards the two manikins which afterwards launched them into the air. Using this opportunity, Lightning dashes into the air, and then casts her Aerora spell which homes in on the Manikins and creates a gale on impact catching them in a trap. Afterwards Noctis summons and throws his Javelin into the air before he warps to it and eventually stabs his weapon onto the trapped Manikins as before slamming the Javelin to the ground, destroying the manikins, which now leaves two left.

An ominous howling noise fills the wasteland as the sky is filled with red clouds, and afterwards a large battleship descends from the clouds much to everyone's surprise.

" _ **A battleship, is this the Warriors of Chaos' doing?!"**_ The Warrior of Light asked.

" _ **Niflheim….no I'm clearly off track on that one, that's not their kinda design."**_ Noctis said.

" _ **Hold on, what are those dropping from the ship?"**_ Lightning noticed.

[ BGM: Super Smash Bros. Brawl – Step: Subspace ]

Dropping from the battleship onto the ground were glowing violet spheres, Shadow Bugs, that all formed into soldiers called the Primid, as the substance leaked from their backs. There were two Primids that were unarmed, one called the Sword Primid that carried a beam sword, and one called the Boom Primid that was equipped with boomerangs.

" _ **What the hell are we dealing with here, I'm gonna assume you guys don't know anything about these either?"**_ Noctis asked.

" _ **I've never seen these kind of creatures before, but one thing's of certainty…"**_ the Warrior of Light said as he pointed his sword forward and continued, _**"They're definitely hostile!"**_

" _ **Shouldn't we probably find an escape plan, with the manikins and our new guests the odds are gonna be against us."**_ Lightning suggested.

The Warrior of Light remained in thought but then noticed another warrior with blue hair and a blue cape, rushing into the fight as he noticed the Primids as well.

" _ **Another warrior?"**_ The Warrior of Light wondered.

" _ **There's more of them, I have to investigate this further….huh?"**_ the warrior said before he noticed the others, but shifted his eyes to the left as he spotted something from above.

[ BGM: Super Smash Bros. Brawl – Meta Knight's Revenge ]

Suddenly flying from the red clouds was a tiny masked knight, who immediately initiates a swordfight with the other, but the warrior repelled his attack and knocked him back. As the tiny knight flew back and regained his balance, the other said….

" _ **Skilled with a sword indeed… you must be of the higher ranks of this force, state your business in Altea!"**_ the warrior demanded.

" _ **I answer to no one, en garde, warrior!"**_ the masked knight said.

" _ **Are they really fighting each other now in all this?!"**_ Lightning asked.

They both quickly dashed towards each other and clashed blades, evenly matched, however as the Primids attempted to attack the two warriors, they both were set straight and struck the Primids as they dissolved into Shadow Bugs. The substance then surrounded both warriors as they formed into more Primids, causing them to stand guard.

" _ **So it is clear you're not one of them, do you have any knowledge of these creatures?"**_ the warrior asked.

" _ **No, but they're responsible for seizing control of my Halberd battleship, and I will reclaim it."**_ The knight answered.

" _ **That explains the similarities in its design in comparison to your mask…."**_ The warrior said as he analyzed the battleship and the knight's mask before he introduced himself. _**"I am Marth, Prince of Altea…forgive me for my assumptions."**_

The knight had turned his eyes towards Marth, surprised that the prince showed enough trust to even introduce himself and his title. The knight then returned his focus to the Primids and responded _**"Meta-Knight….the enemies are approaching, ready your blade."**_ Meta-Knight said.

" _ **Looks like they've settled their differences, but I don't recall seeing them before….what do you think?"**_ Lightning asked as she turned to the Warrior of Light.

" _ **The warrior in blue definitely bears the light, but the other…I am uncertain, while he appears to be aiding him, I sense some kind of…darkness within him."**_ The Warrior of Light explained but then saw a manikin approaching.

A Twilight Prince had tossed his blade towards the Warrior of Light, however he created a barrier that guarded against the attack before he struck the manikin with his sword, defeating it. The last Evanescent Glimmer attempted to attack the Warrior of Light from behind, but Noctis slashed it away as it began to dissolve.

" _ **Now that that's done, wouldn't you guys agree we should help them out?"**_ Noctis suggested as he went on ahead.

" _ **Right."**_ Both the Warrior of Light and Lightning agreed.

As a Boom Primid threw its boomerang towards Meta-Knight, the tiny knight dashed passed it and kicked the Primid into the air with a running kick before he jumped into the air and performed a cartwheeling slash, which sliced it in half. Marth clashes swords with a Sword Primid until he assumes a defensive stance as he holds his sword, the Falchion, downward in a reverse grip. Once the Sword Primid attempted to strike, Marth exclaimed _**"I've read you!"**_ as he counterattacks with an outward slash, allowing Meta-Knight to dash forward and catch the Sword Primid along with another Primid with a series of quick slashes, and finished them off with swift back flipping slash. As more Primids began to approach the two, the Warrior of Light jumped in as he summoned a large sword of light and reeled the Primids away with one single slash before he dispelled it.

" _ **I believe an explanation is in order, what kingdom do you all hail from…some of your clothing is quite unordinary."**_ Marth said as he looked at Lightning and Noctis.

" _ **We're all from different worlds, same as the two of you."**_ The Warrior of Light explained.

" _ **Different worlds, you mean to tell me this is not Altea?"**_ Marth asked before he looked around in confusion.

"… _ **If this is true, then perhaps you know something about these interlopers that has taken my battleship?"**_ Meta-Knight asked.

" _ **Unfortunately no, they must've somehow drawn themselves into this world and you two along with it…it's not like them to summon weapons, is it?"**_ Lightning asked the Warrior of Light.

" _ **Summon?!"**_ Marth asked in shock.

[ Music Stops ]

Suddenly out of nowhere a jester skipped through the battle nonchalantly and disregarded the warriors as he said, _**"Death and doom, forgot to behead that Returner…"**_ but then immediately walked backwards and stopped before he turned to the warriors. _**"Doom and death, no I didn't….."**_

[ BGM: Final Fantasy VI – Kefka ]

" _ **Let blood stain the battlefield! As long as it doesn't stain my breeches!"**_ The jester said psychotically.

" _ **I…Is that really a c-clown?"**_ Noctis asked out of disbelief.

" _ **You're that insane mage Kefka, I should've known one of you would reveal themselves eventually."**_ The Warrior of Light said.

" _ **The nameless soldier and his band of goody two-shoes, seems you all aren't quite thrilled with the lovely bloody view today hehe."**_ Kefka said as he reached his arms out.

"… _ **.So this invasion is "his" doing?!"**_ Lightning asked as she pointed her blade towards Kefka.

The insane jester giggled before he said, _**"Don't jump to the boring stuff rose head, let's just say I hoped on the bandwagon and did some extra EXTRA dirty work, for the right price….destruction to all!"**_

" _ **W-what exactly does he mean by….?"**_ Marth asked confused.

Lightning interrupted and answered, _**"Whoever these invaders are, Kefka's joined up along with them for his own satisfaction."**_

" _ **Then let his satisfaction for destruction be his downfall!"**_ Meta-Knight said as he flew at high speed towards Kefka.

" _ **All ready, set, go aren't we masked bat?!"**_ Kefka said with excitement as he just stood there with a smirk on his face.

" _ **Aether!"**_

[ BGM: Project X Zone 2 – Accelerating Chaos ]

A tall muscular warrior descends down with his two-handed sword and attempts to strike Meta-Knight, but the masked knight was quickly aware as he covered himself with his cape and vanished before the sword smashed to the ground, then the knight reappeared. The attacking warrior had gotten back up and placed his blade on his shoulder as he stared coldly at the others with no light reflection from his eyes.

" _ **Well, do you all like my new TOY?! Tall and buffy!"**_ Kefka said.

Shadow Bugs had then appeared around the warrior and all formed into five Sword Primids, ready to fight the others as they equipped their beam swords.

" _ **Seems to me Kefka has his own agenda in all this, regardless he has to be stopped."**_ The Warrior of Light said.

" _ **I'm still bothered by the fact that we're fighting this clown, the guys back home are gonna laugh at me for this…"**_ Noctis added.

The Warrior of Light had glanced closely at the tall warrior and noticed a crown placed around his head.

" _ **Th…that crown on the warrior's head, I've seen that particular artifact used before on another!"**_ The Warrior of Light noticed.

" _ **An artifact you say…..wait, he mentioned his new "toy" correct, if I am certain by his wording then this warrior is fighting against his will, someone with such a valiant appearance aiding this jester, it doesn't seem right."**_ Marth explained.

Kefka had made a slight gasp, and then started clapping as he said _**"Tch….let's give little boy blue a 10 shall we?! That's right folks, this wild dog named Mike….or Tike…. had the nerve to try and attack ME and my new army, and then failed….so I returned the favor and gave him a leash!"**_ Kefka had then pointed his finger forward and commanded, _**"Alright doggy, go give 'em hell!"**_

" _ **Yes Master Kefka…."**_ The warrior acknowledged as he pointed his sword forward.

[ Music Stops ]

" _ **That's enough Kefka!"**_ A girl's voice yelled out.

[ BGM: Dissidia Final Fantasy – The Decisive Battle (FFVI) ]

Small meteors had rained down from above, destroying some of the Sword Primids, however both Kefka and the manipulated warrior managed to dodge out of the way and looked up, only to see a young woman flying down in front of the heroes.

" _ **It's that girl, Terra…good to see you again."**_ The Warrior of Light said.

" _ **The Warrior of Light? And so many others are here!"**_ Terra said before she turned to Kefka, but then noticed the manipulated warrior as she recognized him and the crown on his head and said, _**"Sir Ike?! That crown, oh no!"**_

" _ **Doesn't it bring back lovely memories my dear, the same device that was placed on your pretty head when your destructive power was under MY CONTROL!"**_ Kefka said.

" _ **I remember that terrible torment I went through, but I won't allow you to put Ike through it as well!"**_ Terra said as she pulled out her sword.

" _ **Awww heroic feelings…..how utterly disgusting, time to cure those suckers away like a bad cold!"**_ Kefka flies up and then commanded, _**"Now without any further interruptions GIVE EM REAL HELL!"**_

The rest of the Sword Primids and Ike charged towards the warriors as The Warrior of Light, Lightning, and Noctis fought them off. The Warrior of Light had threw his shield to drag one of the Primids closer and slashed it three times before he thrusted his sword forward, defeating it. As more Primids closed in on Lightning and Noctis, Lightning used her Blitz attack to slash them away as she then charged towards another and slashes it a couple times, followed by a slash that launched the Primid into air. Noctis warped himself into the air targeting the airborne Primid as the remaining few jumped towards the prince, which prompted him to equip his Daggers a strike all the Primids with a flurry of blows, slashing them all apart before he finished the last one off with a forward slash.

Ike stood tall while he held his sword, the Ragnell, as Marth, Meta-Knight, and Terra prepared themselves awaiting his attack. It was then that Ike stepped forward and said, _**"Enemies of Master Kefka….Destroy!"**_ as he raised his sword back and quickly dashed forward, attempting to strike three warriors with a sword slash. While Meta-Knight dashed to the side and Terra flew into the air, Marth managed to block the attack with his Falchion but due to Ike's strength he was knocked back a bit. Meta-Knight quickly flew forward to strike Ike, however the manipulated warrior turns back and grabbed the knight and pummeled him with a headbutt before he threw him backward and performed a spinning back kick that knocked Meta-Knight away. Ike had then seen Marth descending towards him attempting to strike him with a crescent slash, but Ike immediately dashed back and then lifted his Ragnell as he lunged heavily with a downward slash. Marth dodged the attack quickly as the sword slammed to the ground and thought _**"(If I can just get close to that artifact….)"**_ before he dashed towards Ike, who did the same. They both clashed their swords until Ike performed an outward slash, which Marth ducked, leaving Ike wide open for Marth to rotate his body as he performed an overhead slash, which only caused a slight cut to Ike's chest plate. They both collided they swords holding each other off as Marth yelled _**"Listen warrior, if you indeed fight for justice, remember who you really are, you are not a puppet for destruction!"**_ Suddenly, a void opened above a distracted Marth as Meta-Knight dashed in a pushed Marth out of the way as meteors rained down. _**"You have my thanks Meta-Knight."**_ Marth said to his rescuer as Meta-Knight simply looked up at the attacker, Kefka who floated down from the sky.

[ BGM: Dissidia Final Fantasy – Battle to the Death (VI) ]

" _ **My, that was a close one, if the bats hasn't saved your blue bottom, your body would've scattered into little blueberry pebbles!"**_ Kefka said before he generated several orbs of lightning around him and continued, _**"Now it's time for you all to entertain me like the play things you are!"**_

The insane clown had sent the orbs hurtling towards everyone as they all continued dodging around as he said, _**"Dance, dance, keep dancing for me hahaha!"**_ Suddenly a shield came from behind and hit Kefka in the back of the head, which caused the short-tempered clown to yell **_"HEY, WHO THE HELL DARES THROW THINGS AT ME….huh?"_** Distracted from the sudden attack, Kefka looked back only to get hit in the face with a kick from a flying Meta-Knight, causing the clown to spin backwards continuously before regaining his flight and noticed the previous attacker while he held his nose from the last attack, which was the Warrior of Light as he, Lightning, and Noctis caught up with the fight.

" _ **You had me cheap shot you buzzkill!**_ ** _Looks like I'm gonna have to play rough, time to deal out the hurt!"_** Kefka yelled as he invoked a powerful area of magic around everyone using the index of his finger that would then attempt to draw everyone in. Terra yelled, **_"Everyone get away!"_** before the magic burst into purple explosions catching them all, however as the smoke cleared everyone was protected by five large shields of lights manifested by the Warrior of Light himself as his body was covered in a bright aura. **_"HA! How dull…"_** Kefka said before he noticed orbs of light pursuing him and he flew to the side evading the attack, which came from Terra who then casted a flurry of fireballs while moving towards him. Kefka smiled as he continuous dodged Terra's magic, but then conjured negative energy into his hand before he said **_"Whad'ya think of THIS?!"_** and casted his Forsaken Null towards Terra, who gasped as she braced herself before the orb impacted. **_"Does it hurt? DOES IT PUPPET?!"_** Kefka said psychotically as he witnessed the impact, however from within the negative energy Terra yelled **_"I won't be defeated!"_** as the magic dispersed, revealing Terra in her Esper form as she quickly summoned a massive fireball, her Meltdown magic ability, and casts it towards a defenseless Kefka who got blasted down towards Lightning and Noctis.

" ** _This is our chance kid, let's finish this!"_** Lightning said as she charged forward, while Noctis followed, made an annoyed tone and said, **_"Don't call me kid."_** Ike charged forward to defend the falling Kefka, but Marth and Meta-Knight intervened. Once they caught up, Kefka exclaimed **_"Un-be-LEEEEVE-able!"_**

[ BGM: Final Fantasy XV – The Fight Is On! ]

Noctis threw his sword before he warped to Kefka and performed three strikes with his Engine Blade. Then the prince switched to his two-handed sword, swung it downward, and then upward with all his might knocking Kefka away. Lightning dashed forward and thrusted her sword into Kefka and followed up with a flurry of powerful swings from her sword before she sent Kefka flying with her Heavy Slash attack. She then casted her Aerora spell which trapped Kefka within wind magic, giving her the opportunity to dash forward and said, **_"Ha! This will be over quick."_** She exclaimed **_"I'll crush you!"_** and performed a downward slash followed by three side slashes transitioning into a backflip kick and three more slashes, finishing off with an upward slash that knocked Kefka away towards Noctis. The prince had conjured the Armiger, the power of his family bloodline, and summoned spectral versions of the Royal Arms that all pointed towards Kefka as he said **_"Let's shift into high gear"_** before executing a flashy combo using many royal arms, and finishes as he slammed his light-infested Engine Blade to the ground creating a pillar of light magic. He then turned his back on the defeated Kefka as he dispelled his weapon.

 **~ Super Attack: Army of One & Legacy of the Lucii ~**

 **( Lightning & Noctis Lucis Caelum )**

Kefka struggled to stand as he said, _**"…I'm getting angry…VERY angry, activate the bomb now!"**_

" _ **Bomb?!"**_ The Warrior of Light said.

[ BGM: Project X Zone 2 – The Gates of Resolved Fates ]

The warriors had turned and noticed someone covered in a green cloak floating above a large bomb that was pulled open by robots called ROB, which then revealed a timer set to fifteen seconds. While the ROB stayed in their positions with their arms attached to the bombs, the cloaked figure had flew away in grief returning to the Halberd.

" _ **Fifteen seconds?! We have to destroy that thing!"**_ Lightning suggested.

" _ **There's no time, we have to get to that tower quickly."**_ The Warrior of Light said as he pointed towards a blue tower distances away from them.

" _ **Coward, I'll have your head!"**_ Meta-Knight said as he dashed towards Kefka.

Kefka simply chuckled as he propelled himself upward to the Halberd with an explosive flatulence as he said, _**"Remember this face goodie two shoes, whoa-hohohohoho!"**_ causing Meta-Knight to defend himself from the explosion.

Ike simply stared at Terra before he jumped away into the clouds as she said, _**"Ike, no!"**_

" _ **I won't let you escape!"**_ Meta-Knight exclaimed as he flew upward in pursuit of his ship as it slowly started to fly away.

" _ **Meta-Knight! Ugh…I'm sorry but this where we part, thank you everyone!"**_ Marth had ran off towards the ships direction.

" _ **Wait a second!"**_ Noctis said ready to give chase.

The Warrior of Light stopped Noctis and said, _**"Let them go, they have their own battle just like we do…I am certain they'll manage on their own!"**_

Noctis nodded and they all quickly escaped from the bomb's vicinity before it eventually detonated, removing the surrounding from the world and leaving a dark void behind.

[ BGM: Dissidia Final Fantasy NT – Discord ]

Once they found a safe distance near the blue tower, they all had witnessed the idle dark void caused by the bomb as the pressure continued to breeze heavily passed them.

" _ **So was this Kefka's plan, keeping us distracted while he destroys the lands?"**_ Lightning asked.

" _ **Causing destruction even in this world, he never stops…"**_ Terra said as she looked down thinking about Ike.

The Warrior of Light approached Terra, and patted her on the shoulder before he said _**"Worry not Terra, we will save your friend from Kefka's magic."**_

" _ **To be honest, Ike's not really my friend nor is he from my world...we met each other when I was separated from my friends in Narshe, he looked lost and he explained to me that he hailed from a continent called Tellius and was separated from his allies during a mission….it was then that Kefka and his soldier surrounded us, and….Ike helped me escape but…."**_ Terra looked down as tears balled from her eyes.

" _ **It's not your fault Terra, he risked his life to save yours, now it's your turn to save his…without tears, but strength."**_ Lightning said before she turned to the Warrior of Light and asked, _**"So, are you gonna tell us why we're back here?"**_

" _ **We have been called upon to serve a new purpose."**_ The Warrior of Light answered.

" _ **By Cosmos?"**_ Lightning assumed.

" _ **No, by the heiress of her will."**_ The Warrior of Light answered.

Still confused about everything that's occurred, Noctis nervously asked _**"Serve…what new purpose?"**_

Lightning, Terra, and the Warrior of Light exchanged glances before the armored warrior looked at Noctis and answered, _**"I'll explain on the way.**_

" _ **You're coming too."**_ Lightning added.

Noctis placed his hand behind his head and said, _**"…seriously?"**_

The Warrior of Light nodded and walked ahead towards the direction of the blue toward before he turned back to everyone and said, _**"We shall go and seek and audience with her, I'm sure she's already aware of what has transpired here."**_


	4. Prologue 4

~ Prologue 4 – Virtual Subterfuge ~

In the online game's sequel called "The World R:2", the special PC Haseo, also known as the Terror of Death, was inside the Hulle Granz Cathedral standing in front of an altar where Tri-Edge's Sign had been marked. He reminisced about his friend Shino who, because of Tri-Edge, became a Lost One but during a certain battle he learned of Tri-Edge's true identity. Originally thought to be Azure Kite, Haseo found out it was really his old mentor Ovan who somehow was infected by the powers of AIDA (Artificially Intelligent Data Anomaly), an entity that exists outside the bounds of The World's specifications.

[ The World R:2 - Δ Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground, Hulle Granz Cathedral ]

[ BGM: Project X Zone 2 – Cathedral ~ Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground ]

" _ **Ovan…you knew everything! You hurt Shino…and then manipulated me!"**_ Haseo said as he gripped his hand into a fist. He then thought to himself **(** _ **"I have to find him…and when I do, I'll make sure he and the AIDA are both put to an end this time!").**_ Haseo then looked back towards the entrance and thought _**("…I'll head back for now.")**_

The PC then saw the doors open and much to his surprise, Kite of the .hackers ran into the cathedral looking for someone before he noticed Haseo.

" _ **H-Haseo?!"**_ Kite said in confusion.

" _ **Kite, what are you doing here in R:2?"**_ Haseo asked.

" _ **That's a good question…Uh, hey have you seen another player, a dark-skinned girl with pink hair and wields a broadsword, she's a Heavy Blade class."**_ Kite asked.

"… _ **Can't say that I have, besides, I doubt anyone wants to be here with the way things are now…"**_ Haseo said.

Kite had looked above the altar and noticed a crack, which later formed into a complete wormhole.

" _ **What the…what's that portal above you Haseo?!"**_ Kite said in shock.

" _ **Portal?"**_ Haseo turned around and noticed it as well before he said, _**"Oh great, perfect example…so what now?"**_

Suddenly, anomalous black spots had appeared around the wormhole which were familiar to both Haseo and Kite, it was the AIDA.

" _ **Those black bubbles, Haseo you don't think…"**_ Kite said before Haseo has interrupted.

The PC had took out his giant scythe angered as he said, _**"AIDA! Heh, they'll lead me straight to Ovan!"**_

Haseo immediately jumped into the wormhole as the black spots had entered the wormhole as well.

" _ **Ovan? Haseo wait!"**_ Kite had jumped into the wormhole as well before it slowly disappeared.

[ Alola Region – Cyberspace, Festival Plaza ]

After learning that someone took over the virtual Festival Plaza, Ula'ula Island's Trial Captain, Sophocles, had visited the Battle Tree and sought help from the legendary Pokémon Trainer, Red, who was working as a boss there, before they both immediately teleported to the Festival Plaza. Upon arriving, they both discovered that the castle now sported a more sinister design adorned with screens, each displaying a letter "R" on a rainbow-colored background.

[ BGM: Namco X Capcom – Enveloping Dark Clouds ]

Red was shocked to actually be in a virtual reality for the first time, which caused him to say _**"…So this is cyberspace, it feels just as real as the real world…what's happened here?"**_

" _ **The space here suddenly became all twisted, and then the programming of the Plaza was rewritten, that's why the castle looks so…."**_ Sophocles paused, not knowing what words to use.

" _ **Familiar…"**_ Red said as he glanced closer at the castle.

Sophocles had turned to Red with excitement and said, _**"Oh, you get it Red! Yeah the way it's so dark and menacing…"**_ but then realized what Red actually said while lost in his excitement before he asked, _**"W-wait, did you say familiar?"**_

" _ **(Is it who I think it is….")**_ Red thought to himself before he continued, _**"I could be wrong, but one thing's for certain, there's nothing exciting about this at all."**_

" _ **Perhaps, on top of that they broke through my impenetrable security system, even if they did take advantage of a system malfunction…and they've taken complete control of Festival Plaza."**_ Sophocles said.

" _ **Then we should be careful…seems these guys know what they're doing."**_ Red suggested.

" _ **Agreed…."**_ Sophocles said before turned towards the castle and shivered in fear before he continued, _**"W-well…let's go then….*gulp*"**_

Red walked on ahead towards the castle as Sophocles hesitantly followed behind him. Once they entered inside the castle they see a group of grunts in black, as one of them turned towards the intruders. Red looked closely and noticed the letter "R" on his outfit, which shocked the Pokémon Trainer.

" _ **Hey, who are you?! Nobody should be able to enter Team Rocket's Castle!"**_ The alerted grunt said.

" _ **I-I have admin rights…."**_ Sophocles said nervously.

Confused and annoyed, the Team Rocket Grunt yelled, _**"What?! How dare you try to confuse me with your nerdy language…huh?!"**_ The grunt had stopped before he looked at Red, and gasped in shock as he recognized him. _**"Y-You, you're that trainer that….!**_

" _ **Team Rocket, how are you guys still around?! They were disbanded!"**_ Red said.

" _ **Ugh….*ahem* doesn't matter, Team Rocket's Castle is under our control, and there's nothing you guys can do about it!"**_ The grunt said before he laughed hysterically as the grunts approached the trainers with their Poké Balls.

" _ **So you know these guys?! They definitely don't seem like nice people, I can't believe I've allowed Festival Plaza to be taken over by people like them."**_ Sophocles said embarrassed but then thought _**"(Still…he said this castle was under their control, what exactly did he mean…?)"**_

" _ **(Something's not right about all this, I stopped the organization years ago….)"**_ Red immediately took out his Poke Ball and exclaimed, _**"Let's go Charizard!"**_ however, much to Red's surprise, the Poke Ball wasn't functioning properly and asked, _**"Hey, why can I use my Pokémon Sophocles?!"**_

" _ **Give me a sec and I'll check…"**_ Sophocles said as he reached for a device in his pocket to check on the system, and then found out _**"I've got it Red, they have some sort of program lock that prevents us from using the Pokémon in our party!"**_

" _ **Tch…then we've got to figure out something…hold on, isn't this place of yours where trainers can battle it out as well…?"**_ Red suggested.

' _ **Hmm…? Oh, of course the Battle Agency! If we use the Battle Agency rules, we can use other people's Pokémon to battle, it doesn't matter if we can't use our own…just a sec!"**_ Sophocles said as he used his device again and continued, _**"Using my admin rights to access the debug features…rebooting the reception program…."**_

Suddenly, a virtual receptionist appeared by the Battle Agencies front desk, much to Red's surprise due to him being a first timer in virtual reality.

" _ **I've made it so we can use the Battle Agency now too…I wish there was more I could do, but I can't access my full admin rights…"**_ Sophocles said.

[ BGM: Project X Zone 2 – Accelerating Chaos ]

It was then that the surroundings started to malfunction as black spots, AIDA, started to manifest around the room.

" _ **H-Hey what the heck is going on, what did you do kid?!"**_ a Team Rocket Grunt asked angrily immediately blaming Sophocles.

" _ **I-I didn't do anything, uhhhh…"**_ Sophocles had used his device once and noticed something completely wrong with this system before he panicked, _**"AHHHH, that reboot must've brought in a massive error into the system, but how is that possible?!"**_

Suddenly the virtual receptionist started to malfunction as well as it stuttered, _**"A….Access….accessing….Batt….tlleeeeee….Agency….Agency….gooo…..good luck!"**_

One by one the Team Rocket Grunts were teleported away as one of them yelled, _**"This is insane….no matter, you all will be stopped hehe!"**_ before he was teleported as well.

" _ **Oh crap, the error must've taken over the Battle Agency….Red, I need you to defeat Team Rocket using the program, I'll try and get back complete admin access and stop this error while you keep them busy…..be careful!"**_ Sophocles said.

" _ **Alright, you as well Sophocles!"**_ Red said as he ran to the panel before it teleported him away.

An alert had then beeped near the Battle Agency reception desk, which caught Sophocles attention, before the receptionist had stuttered, _**"T…wo challengers….have b….been invited to join you team.""(What?!...who?!)"**_ Sophocles thought to himself.

[ Alola Region – Cyberspace, Battle Agency Stadium ]

Red was teleported into the virtual-like Battle Agency Stadium as its surroundings was completely manifested with AIDA. Then suddenly, the Battle Agency's receptionist's voice had spoken out of nowhere…

" _ **Install….ing…..a…battle….program…..Type….."Team Rainbow Rocket."**_

" _ **Rainbow…?"**_ Red wondered.

Teleporting in front of him were three now exclaimed Team Rainbow Rocket Grunts, who all were in a corrupted state as AIDA spots had surrounded each of them. The grunts had then threw their Poke Balls as three Pokémon emerged, the cobra Pokemon Arbok, the large rodent Pokémon Raticate in its Alolan form, and the bat Pokémon Golbat, as they all were also corrupted by AIDA.

" _ **What on earth is with these bubbles…what's gotten into you guys?!"**_ Red shouted out, but none of them responded which lead to the Pokémon trainer clutching his Poke Ball and said, _**"(This may not be my Pokémon but it'll have to do for now)."**_ Red threw his Poke Ball and luckily, a Charizard had emerged from it as its roar echoed throughout the staduim. _**"A Charizard, perfect timing!"**_

[ BGM: Pokémon Ultra Sun/Utra Moon - Battle! (Team Rainbow Rocket) ]

As the three hostile Pokémon charged towards Red and his borrowed Charizard, the Pokémon trainer commanded, _**"Charizard, send them away with Flamethrower!"**_ Charizard flapped into the air and releases a stream of flames as it burns onto the ground blocking the three Pokémons' path. However, Arbok leaped over the flames and Golbat flew into the air, both in pursuit of Charizard as their upper fangs glowed purple attempting to use their Poison Fang attack. _**"Gasp, Charizard quick fly back and use Fire Punch!"**_ Red commanded as the flying Pokémon simply flew back and evaded their attack, allowing its fist to ignite in flames before it punched both the Pokémon to the ground and left them fainted.

" _ **Nice one Charizard!"**_ Red cheered to his burrowed Pokémon, but from above, the Alolan Raticate descended to Charizard with a sneak attack as its two front teeth glowed white and bit the Pokémon's neck, using Super Fang, causing Charizard to yell in pain before it fell to the ground. The Alolan Raticate jumped away from Charizard with enough distance to form a ball of darkness from its mouth and then fires a beam of dark purple circles towards Red and Charizard, however the Pokémon uses its Flamethrower again to hold off the attack only for the collision to cause an explosion. With Red and Charizard defending themselves from the aftermath, the Alolan Raticate quickly dashes towards the Pokémon as its arm is surrounded by a dark-purple aura shaped into sharp claws attempting to use Shadow Claw, but…

[ Music Stops ]

" _ **En…tering….challengers one….and two!"**_

" _ **SHUT UP AIDAAAA!"**_

[ BGM: .hack/G.U. – Battle ]

As they teleported into the stadium, Haseo, with his ally Kite following behind him, equipped his Twin Blades as he cut through the Alolan Raticate, instantly defeating the corrupted Pokémon. Now with the Pokémon defeated, the corrupted Team Rainbow Rocket Grunts and their Pokémon were teleported away from the stadium.

" _ **Where is he?! Ovan?! Ovaan!"**_ Haseo yelled as he looked around.

" _ **Haseo calm down for a second, who is this Ovan you keep mentioning?!"**_ Kite asked as he was concerned about Haseo's behavior.

" _ **He's….."**_ Haseo said before he stopped and noticed his surroundings and wondered, _**"An AIDA infested stadium, I've never seen this place before in R:2."**_

" _ **I don't think this is part of my version either…."**_ Kite looked back and noticed Red and his Charizard much to his surprise before he said, _**"Hey Haseo there's someone else here, he appears to be okay!"**_

Red was confused about their sudden appearance and wondered, _**"( These guys are wearing costumes and carrying weapons?! This is far too strange…)"**_ The Pokémon trainer walked towards them with his borrowed Charizard following behind him as Haseo equipped his scythe weary of the Pokémon. _**"Woah hold on, it's not going to attack you!"**_

" _ **Why am I not convinced, what is that thing anyway?!"**_ Haseo asked.

" _ **It's my…well…someone's Pokémon that I borrowed, it's a Charizard."**_ Red explained as he noticed that Charizard started to growl at Haseo's hostility and said, _**"Would you mind putting that weapon away, you're gonna agitate it!"**_

" _ **POKAY-MON, what the hell kinda name is that?!"**_ Haseo asked obnoxiously.

Kite had stepped in front of Haseo and said, _**"Haseo cut that out, besides, we may have stumbled into another world like last time, because I've never heard of a Beast Tamer class in The World, unless you're game had a recent update."**_

Haseo had settled down and answered, _**"No it hasn't, so you mean to tell we're involved in that "rift" crap again….hey you, who are you and where are we?"**_

"… _ **My name is Red, you're in the Alola Region, but right now we're in Sophocles's cyberspace that's been taken over by Team Rocket, and then these black bubbles started to appear messing up everything."**_ Red explained.

" _ **So another virtual reality has connected with our worlds, and AIDA's spreading throughout the system, we have to stop this."**_ Kite suggested with his hand under his chin.

Black spots had appeared around the stadium, and emerged two Golbat, two Arbok, one Alolan Raticate, and two Anna-type AIDA monsters.

" _ **Alright, now were talkin', bring it on!"**_ Haseo said as he smirked.

" _ **H-Haseo, I don't think it's necessary to encourage the enemy either."**_ Kite said.

" _ **What's this….AIDA, some sort of rare Pokemon? Or those….Rotom!"**_ Red shouted as his Rotom Pokedex had flew out of his pocket by his command before Red said, _**"See if you can analyze those!"**_

" _ **What the…what the hell is that thing some kind of robotic cell phone, or another POKAY-MON?!"**_ Haseo asked as he obnoxiously starred at the Rotom Pokedex.

" _ **Zzzt, no problem Red!"**_ The special Pokedex acknowledged as it started to analyze the Anna-type AIDA, but to no avail as it said, _**"Oh no, it appears these beings are unable to be analyzed! Zzzzt!"**_ Rotom had then noticed Haseo starring at him before it said, _**"Zzt! Hey you know it's impolite to stare, sir!**_

" _ **Hmph, on that note, shall we kick some ass .hacker?"**_ Haseo asked Kite with a smirk on his face.

" _ **Ummm sure why not."**_ Kite said nervously before he equipped his blades.

Haseo dashed into the air and performed his Reapers Dance, a series of ranged aerial slashes with his scythe, on a group of enemies before swinging his blade downward, summoning wicked blades from the ground as they slashed the monsters into the air. With the monsters in his sight as he was still airborne, Haseo then yelled _**"Lotus Flower!"**_ and swung his scythe, horizontally slashing the enemies back into a virtual field as they all bounced forward towards Kite. The legendary PC simply jumped in and performs a series of quick aerial slashes of his own before he lands back on his feet, and defeated four the Pokémon leaving the Raticate and the AIDA. The Alolan Pokémon attempted to bite the .hacker, but from above Charizard stomped on top of the Raticate and finished it with a Flamethrower attack.

" _ **Heh, no match for the Terror of Death."**_ Haseo said.

" _ **Last time I checked I helped out too."**_ Red added.

" _ **Zzzzt! Bragging makezzz you seem less impressive, not more impressive!"**_ Rotom said to Haseo.

" _ **The hell do you know you talking cell phone?!"**_ Haseo said.

" _ **Don't let your guard down yet guys, I have a feeling that was just the first wave."**_ Kite said concerned.

" _ **Right…"**_ Haseo said before he thought _**("What is AIDA's purpose here anyways, there's something here that's attracting them…")**_

[ BGM: Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Something Eroding ]

Before the PCs and Red could fight however, three bright symbolic portals appeared in front of them as digital lifeforms called Eaters emerged from it in their Pureblood Mode, and afterwards, another one of AIDA's black spots appeared behind the Eaters revealing to be an infected BlackRose, with the infestation of AIDA surrounding her body.

" _ **A…Are those the "AIDA" too?!"**_ Red asked in shock.

" _ **Never seen these types of monsters in my life, but one things for certain they're hella disturbing…that girl though…"**_ Haseo said as he noticed BlackRose.

" _ **Kazu…Kazu…why did you...have to die…?"**_ BlackRose said.

" _ **BlackRose, I've been looking all over for you, what happened?!"**_ Kite asked.

" _ **Hold on, something's not right with her…"**_ Haseo looked closely and noticed the infestation. _**"Crap, she's been infected by the AIDA."**_

" _ **Infected?!…no, BlackRose!"**_ Kite yelled.

" _ **D…Data…Bugs…I'll kill you all!"**_ BlackRose yelled.

" _ **The same thing that happened to Team Rocket and the Pokémon, I hope Sophocles figures something out quick!"**_ Red said.

One of the Eaters attempted to attack the group by stretching out its tentacles, but Haseo switched to his Broadsword and repelled its attack. Charizard dashed in and performed a couple slashes with its claws before launching the Eater into the air with a back flipping tail whip with its flaming tail, flying itself into midair and remaining in a flying stance. Charizard then punched it down with his Fire Punch attack as it slammed to the platform. The other Eater swung its tentacle towards Kite, but Haseo once again repelled the attack keeping the mysterious lifeform distracted while Kite dealt with the infected BlackRose. Kite hesitated to fight his close friend while Black Rose kept swinging her broadsword, eventually ending as their blades collided. Kite struggled due to the infected Heavy Blade's strength as she said _**"Heartless monsters…you…you killed my brother…!"**_ Kite, realizing what was going on, reached out to BlackRose and responded _**"No…BlackRose, don't you remember, we saved Kazu from his coma after we defeated Morganna!"**_ BlackRose said, _**"No…no, you're just a pawn of Morganna trying to deceive me!"**_ as she lifted her broadsword ready to strike Kite.

[ BGM: Digimon Story:Cyber Sleuth – Digital Wars ]

Before she could do so, a digital portal had appeared and someone inside yelled _**"Bunny Blast!"**_ with a shot of superheated air aimed at BlackRose. The Heavy Blade had anticipated the attack and dodged out of the way as three Digimon and a teenage boy jumped out of the digital portal before it closed. The three Digimon were Terriermon, Togemon, and HiAndromon, and their master Takumi Aiba who was only concerned about the Eaters. _**"Alright guys, let's take down those Eaters!"**_ Takumi commanded as each of the Digimon rushed towards one of the lifeforms. Terriermon yelled _**"Terrier Tornado!"**_ as it generated a tiny tornado by spinning its ears like a propeller and attacked the Eater with a couple hits before moving out of the way. Then Togemon jumped in and performed a 3-hit punch combo before it said _**"Time to deal the real pain, Light Speed Jabbing!"**_ surrounding the Eater at the speed of light jabbing it multiple times and ended with an uppercut. Takumi called out to HiAndromon and said _**"Blast it away, HiAndromon!"**_ with the Mega Digimon responding _**"Acknowledged."**_ as it leaped into the air and shot twin missiles from its arms, directly hitting the Eater before the Digimon landed back on the ground following up with a small electrical wave from both its hands. After the electricity electrocuted the Eater keeping it midair, HiAndromon moved back as energies emanated from both its shoulders, and then combined them to its hands before it said _**"Commencing, Atomic Ray!"**_ and fired off a powerful beam which annihilated the lifeform.

" _ **Great job guys!"**_ Takumi said to his Digimon.

" _ **I've heard rumors from storybooks but…these Pokémon can actually talk?!"**_ Red said in shock as he approached Terriermon and examined it, _**"What region are they from, Alola?!"**_

" _ **Hey what are you…."**_ Takumi said before he noticed his Charizard and said, _**"Woah, another Digimon?! It looks pretty strong."**_

" _ **Umm…guys?"**_ Kite waved trying to get their attention and pointed towards Haseo.

The Terror of Death was still fighting off the Eaters and the two AIDA as he noticed everyone and said, _**"Would you guys quit gawkin' at me and help me out here?!"**_

" _ **Oh I thought no one could match up with the self-proclaimed "Terror of Death", was that all just a bunch of lies?"**_ Red teased.

" _ **Shut the hell up before I PK you and your pet dragon, now get these bastards off me now!"**_ Haseo demanded as he continued fighting.

" _ **Hey let's help him out!"**_ Takumi said as he and the others ran towards the fight, only for the .hacker's path to be blocked by the infected BlackRose and the two AIDA. As Kite and BlackRose started battling their way towards Haseo, the AIDA started throwing several balls of energy at Red and Takumi, who both dodged away from the attacks.

With its light weight, Terriermon hopped on Takumi's head as he asked, _**"Ready to finish this Terriermon?"**_ and the Digimon answered _**"Moumantai."**_ Once Terriermon jumped into the air, Takumi used his Digivice goggles to empower Terriermon through Digivolution as the Digimon yelled _**"Terriermon Digivolve to…!"**_ which caused waves of additional data to transfer into Terriermon as it transformed to its Champion form and exclaimed _**"Gargomon!"**_ The AIDA had shot a large energy beam towards Gargomon, but the Champion Digimon dived below the aggressive AI and thrusted up a bullet from its arm gauntlet, performing its Bunny Pummel. Then it yelled _**"Gargo Pellets!"**_ and fired bullets from its arm gauntlets obliterating both the AIDA within its barrage of bullets. HiAndromon scanned for any life data left of the AIDA, turned to Takumi and said _**"Takumi, the unidentified hostiles have been deleted…"**_ but then his scanner had picked up something nearby and continued, _**"Hm, unknown lifeform logging into the digital area."**_

[ BGM: Virtua Quest – Boss Battle ]

Logged into the digital stadium was a young humanoid whose body was shaped like a little girl, and her skin was made of a reflective and solid chrome. She only remained quiet as she stood there, seemingly observing the battle.

" _ **Wha….that's not a…Digimon, is it?"**_ Red asked.

" _ **No, from what I'm able to analyze this metallic being, while slightly cybernetic, appears to also be….."**_ HiAndromon explained before noticed someone else logging into the stadium. _ **"Takumi, another…."**_

" _ **I get it, I get it…who is it this time?"**_ Takumi wondered.

Logging in was a young boy wearing a visor and a blue suit, and floating above him was a tiny robot. He looked around, unaware of where he was before he asked his robot companion, _**"Bit, what lost server is this?!"**_

"… _ **..Unable to analyze, log out functions are also disabled."**_ Bit answered.

" _ **Ugh…huh?"**_ The boy had noticed the metallic humanoid and recognized it before he went into his fighting stance and said, _**"That's….Dural."**_ The boy then noticed Red and Takumi and asked, _**"Hey…you guys don't look like Hunters, what's going on?"**_

" _ **It's uhhh kinda a long story…"**_ Takumi said as he scratched the back of his head before he realized something and thought, _**"Hold on, that outfit you wearing, you're one of those Hunters from the Nexus right? Who collects data chips for cash?"**_

" _ **Yeah, the name's Sei…there's a lot more going on then you know, and this thing's gonna lead me to the truth!"**_ Sei said as he returned his focus on Dural.

Meanwhile, Haseo swung his scythe causing the Eaters to pull back as he noticed Kite struggling with BlackRose, which prompted him to dash forward and tackle the possessed Heavy Blade down as he grabbed Kite and jumped to Red and Takumi.

" _ **You guys alright?"**_ Haseo asked as he looked back and then forward to see the boy and his robot before he asked, _**"The heck?! Another POKAY-MON user?"**_

" _ **That's Pokemon Trainer, and no…."**_ Red said as he folded his arms.

" _ **Zzzzzt! Haseo'zzz as dumb as he lookzzz!"**_ Rotom insulted.

" _ **You wanna repeat that again….?!"**_ Haseo said as he balled his fists and shifted his eyes to the Pokedex, but then saw Dural and said, _**"Hey Kite isn't that that fighting robot we fought last time?"**_

" _ **Yeah, Dural if I remember correctly…but…it looks younger now."**_ Kite noticed.

" _ **What?! You guys know about J6's Dural Program?!"**_ Sei said shocked.

Meanwhile Takumi noticed BlackRose and the Eaters approaching before he said, _**"Guys, I hate to interrupt but we gotta get rid of those Eaters quickly, if they manage to consume any of our mental data, it'll cause our original bodies to become….comatose."**_

" _ **Comatose?! Like a Lost One?!"**_ Haseo said angrily as he readied his scythe and dashed towards the Eaters. _**"We'll see about that!"**_

Kite followed him and suggested _**"Haseo, don't be so reckless!"**_

BlackRose swung her blade towards Haseo as he blocked it with his scythe, but Kite jumped over the PC pressed both his feet onto BlackRose's large blade as he kicked her away. Suddenly, one of the Eaters had once stretched its tentacles towards Haseo, but Togemon grappled the lifeform's extended tentacle and started swinging it around before it threw the Eater onto a virtual field. Charizard followed up as it took in a deep breath and released a ball of fire from its mouth before it turned into a kanji shaped flame that is fired at the Eater, destroying it.

Suddenly Dural had quickly phased around Sei and then attempted to punch him, but Sei blocked the attack and countered with a thrusting palm strike, knocking Dural back as she phased around again to confuse the Hunter. Once she dashed towards him, jumped up to perform an axe kick, but Dural countered with a somersault kick, followed by a double palm strike that knocked Sei back. As Sei was about to hit the ground, he managed to regain his balance, only to get a warning from Bit _**"Dural approaching!"**_ as the young humanoid phased next to him grabbed him by his waist, slamming him down to the ground before she jumped back. Sei had struggled to get up as he said, _**"I can't….let….J6….get away!"**_ while Dural had charged energy around her and then let out a huge scream as the energy bursts away, causing her to dash towards the Hunter. Once she got close, Dural jumped above Sei and attempted to slam herself onto him, but the Hunter commanded _**"Bit, activate shield!"**_ which caused the navigating robot to exclaim _**"Shield activate!"**_ generating a green shield in front of Sei as it successfully blocked Dural's attack. Sei used this chance to uppercut Dural into the air and performed a triple air kick which knocked the humanoid to the ground before she bounced off, giving Sei the opportunity to exclaim, _**"Synapse Break!"**_ as time suddenly slowed down allowing him to perform a series of combos on the now defenseless metallic humanoid. Lastly, Sei went into a stance and said _**"With the power of Virtua Souls…!"**_ as he performed a powerful strike with the back of his shoulder, which sends Dural flying.

 **~Solo Attack – Synapse Break ~**

 **( Sei )**

Dural had flew into the other Eater as it phased away from it, but left the Eater vulnerable for Red and Takumi to finish it off.

[ BGM: Pokémon Origins – Battle! Wild Pokémon ]

Takumi used his Digivice goggles to empower Togemon through Digivolution as the Digimon yelled _**"Togemon Digivolve to…!"**_ which caused waves of additional data to transfer into Togemon as it transformed to its Ultimate form and exclaimed _**"Lilimon!"**_ The Ulimate Digimon then formed a giant flower with its hands and said, _**"Feel the radiance of my Flower Cannon!"**_ as she shot a blast of energy from it, blasting the lifeform away. Gargomon jumped above the Eater and pressed onto the lifeform as it slammed and dragged through the ground, allowing the Champion Digimon to ride on it while continuously shooting at it, as Lilimon is flying around enjoying the fun. Eventually, Red commanded _**"Now Charizard, fire it up with Seismic Toss!"**_ as Charizard flew near them and swooped in, grabbed the Eater, and flew into the air covered in flames before spinning around in a flaming circle. Lastly, Charizard zooms back down, and tosses the Eater into the ground for more damage, using the momentum of the dive. As the Eater attempted to reach its tentacle out again towards the Pokémon, Charizard takes a deep breath and charges fire through his mouth before he fired a powerful Fire Blast at the Eater, and finished it.

 **~Super Attack – Xros Combo ~**

( Red & Takumi Aiba )

As the lifeform faded away, Red, Takumi, and Sei turned their attention to the weakened Dural as she eventually logged out from the stadium.

" _ **Wait! Crap I can't let Dural get away…Bit quickly transfer us back to the Nexus."**_ Sei commanded.

"… _ **.Unable to log out of server, unidentified anomaly interfering with sequence."**_ Bit responded as he analyzed.

" _ **Unidentified anomaly?!"**_ Sei asked confused.

" _ **The anomalous black spots surrounding the stadium, the aggressive force is preventing any means of escape, the one you refer to as "Dural" managed to break through the anomaly due to its power."**_ HiAndromon explained.

" _ **Sophocles should've came up with a solution by now."**_ Red said.

During the conversation, the infected BlackRose suddenly passed through them while she was knocked back by Haseo, however she regained her balance before landing safely on her feet. Haseo and Kite rushed to the others as the .hacker looked at Haseo angrily.

" _ **Haseo, we're trying to save her not kill her!"**_ Kite said.

" _ **I know what I'm doing."**_ Haseo said back.

BlackRose then disappeared from the stadium within the blackspots.

" _ **The target named "BlackRose", signal lost…enemy threats have been eliminated, anomaly slowly depleting."**_ HiAndromon said as the AIDA black spots had slowly went away.

Suddenly, everyone was forcefully logged out from the stadium and transferred inside of the castle where Sophocles awaited them, but was also surrounded by the remaining Team Rainbow Rocket Grunts

" _ **Impossible! We were….defeated?!"**_ One of the Grunts said before he grew a temper and yelled, _**"That's unfair! You shouldn't be able to battle so effectively with other people's Pokemon, then those others…they're fighting with weapons!"**_ The Grunt then shrugged it off before he said, _**"Bah…get 'em, guys!"**_

" _ **A PK spree, I'm down!"**_ Haseo said as he readied his scythe.

" _ **Wha…wait, no need for that Haseo!"**_ Red suggested.

" _ **Tch….why the hell not?!"**_ Haseo asked as he grew impatient.

Sophocles used his device and said, _**"You'll see…Full system restore, target set to Team Rocket…executing kick from Festival Plaza!"**_

One by one each of the Team Rainbow Rocket Grunts were kicked from cyberspace, and then one more attempted to tackle down Red, but was kicked out immediately. Once they all were kicked out, the Festival Plaza turned back to its original state.

[ BGM: Project X Zone 2 – Because it's the Right Path ]

" _ **Whew….that was close, thanks for your help everyone, you kept them busy just long enough for me to get back full admin access, I used that access…."**_ Sophocles said gratefully before Haseo interrupted.

" _ **Look that's great pal but there's some of us that needs to get back to our own time!"**_ Haseo said rudely.

" _ **Perhaps if you ask nicely….Sophocles, these people and that weird error "AIDA" were brought here accidently, we managed to stop the error but they couldn't get back to their world."**_ Red explained to Sophocles.

" _ **That error actually has a name?!"**_ Sophocles asked.

" _ **Yeah, from my world…get yourself involved with those things are your askin' for an immediate PK."**_ Haseo said before he thought to himself _**"(That's why I need to find him…)"**_

" _ **(Hopefully BlackRose won't suffer the same fate….)"**_ Kite thought.

"… _ **.Takumi, my scanners are picking up a strange dimensional distortion outside of the castle."**_ HiAndroman said.

" _ **Dimensional, we should check it out guys!"**_ Takumi said.

[ BGM: Pokémon Sun/Moon – There's Trouble ]

Everyone had rushed out of the castle and spotted a large wormhole above the castle.

" _ **Dimensional distortion detected, what's left of the distorted energy I scanned before the execution of "kick from Festival Plaza"….this is the source."**_ HiAndroman explained.

" _ **Di-Did you really just quote that…?"**_ Sei asked the Digimon with a weirded out look on his face.

" _ **Zzzrt! Red, that's an Ultra Wormhole!"**_ Rotom said.

" _ **That's the same portal that showed up in R:2, but….."**_ Kite looked closelt at the ends of the wormholes and said, _**"Uh oh, it seems to be closing."**_

" _ **And that's our only exit, let's get goin' then!"**_ Haseo had jumped onto the top of the castle and into the wormhole.

" _ **WHAT?! Did he just recklessly jump inside the Ultra Wormhole, there's no telling what'll happen to him!"**_ Sophocles said.

" _ **Only one way to find out, nice meeting you guys."**_ Kite said as he jumped into the wormhole.

" _ **Sei, if we're from the same world then its best we stick close together…I can easily get you back to the Nexus once we get to Japan."**_ Takumi suggested.

" _ **Okay, well this is goodbye."**_ Sei said as he waved.

" _ **Gargomon, time to get us outta here."**_ Takumi commanded.

Gargomon saluted as it Digivolved into its colossal Mega form MegaGargomon which shocked Red, Sophocles, and Sei.

" _ **TH-TH-THAAAT'S ABOUT AS BIG AS A WAILORD!"**_ Sophocles said as the Digimon stomped close to the castle and shouted, _**"NONONO BE CAREFUL!"**_

Takumi, Sei, and the others had hoped onto the Digimon as the rockets around its body started before it slowly flew into the Ultra Wormhole before it closed.

" _ **That was incredible, I never would've imagined we'd run into other people besides an evil organization."**_ Sophocles said with excitement as he looked at Red and continued, _**"I'm really glad you came with me Red."**_

" _ **Same, though I wasn't expecting this much in one day."**_ Red said as he smiled, but then thought to himself _**"(But now that Team Rocket…no….Team Rainbow Rocket is back, I have to stop them.)"**_


End file.
